Lowrider For Sale - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF

7 minutes ago

4 min read

This is a wonderful book about a multigenerational family - Gabi, Papi, and Abuelo Chucho - and their relationship with their adored lowrider Pico Nights. It offers a realistic and honest conversation on processing loss and changes and the importance of family.

Book cover - a girl, dad, grandfather, and dog cruising in their lowrider at sunset with the top down.

Lowrider for Sale

Author: Laura De La Cruz

Illustrator: Vanessa Morales

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion (September 8, 2026)

Ages: 3-7

Fiction

Themes:

Family, cherished memories, lowrider cars, and cruising culture.

Synopsis:

When Gabi’s beloved family car is put up for sale, she becomes determined to find a way to save it in this multigenerational story perfect for fans of My Papi Has a Motorcycle.

Gabi knows that Papi’s lowrider, Pico Nights, is more than a car. It’s a family scrapbook on wheels—a treasure trove of memories for her, Papi, and Abuelo Chucho. It chauffeured Gabi’s cousin to her quinceañera, rolled through years of Fourth of July parades, and was detailed most Saturday mornings by Gabi, Papi, and Abuelo.

So when Papi places a FOR SALE! sign on Pico Nights, Gabi tries everything she can to save their beloved car.

While Gabi offers her own money, organizes a community fundraiser, and even enters Pico Nights in a car show to try and combat the inevitable, she comes to realize that even though their time with Pico Nights may not last forever, the memories they’ve made in it will.

Opening Lines:

On warm summer evenings, Gabi, Papi, and Abuelo Chucho

climbed aboard Pico Nights, dropped the top, and cruised the boulevard.

Bip!

Biiiip!

Bip!

Together, they made some of Gabi's best memories.

What I LOVED about this book:

The opening spread is such a fun combination of a glorious Southern California sunset, vibrant storefronts lining Whittier Boulevard, and "cut paper" pedestrians (and dog) waving as Gabi, Papi, and Abuelo Chucho cruise down the street. Vanessa Morales illustrations beautifully capture the spirit and feel of what were "some of Gabi's best memories."

Internal spread - as the sun sets, a girl, dad, and grandpa bop along under the arch on Whittier Boulevard in a lowrider. Both sides of the street are lined with shops, palm treets, and cut-out paper figures of pedestrians.

Text © Laura De La Cruz, 2026. Image © Vanessa Morales, 2026.

A set of four equally colorful and active illustrations show the intergenerational family making precious memories with each other and their car - Pico Nights - on special nights, holidays, and Saturday morning detail time. Laura De La Cruz masterfully envelopes the reader in Gabi's enthusiasm and love of the car, so that when without warning she's confronted with a sale sign on the car, the reader empathizes with her misery.

Internal spread - on the left, girl coming home from school gaps at a "For Sale" sign on the window of her beloved lowrider car, as her dog buries a bone in the yard. On the left, Abuelo carries a box into the kitchen, as the girl wails and cries next to the kitchen table and her father kneels in front of her.

As Abuelo tries to comfort Gabi with photos in a scrapbook, she gets the idea that selling her bicycle (bicicleta) will save Pico Nights. When she discovers an old polaroid camera in the attic, she hatches a new plan to raise money. I love how for each of these moments of inspiration Vanessa Morales creates a "halo" of multi-colored" swoops and swirls, stars and dots to further highlight Gabi's enthusiasm. When she was out of film, the multicolored band of colors and flowers, along with backs of scattered photos, highlight Gabi as she proudly proclaims, "I bet this is enough." But Gabi discovers a tough lesson in economics. Determined to save her beloved car, she finds an ad for a car show and tries again. This time, she's surrounded with multi-colored swirls, dots, and flowers.

Internal spread - on the left, Abuelo stands in the doorway dressed in his finery. On the right,Gabi bounces onto her father's bed yelling into a hairbrush (as if a mic), as her father groggily sits up. Clock on the beside table says 7 am.

While all the foregoing spreads with Gabi and her family and friends have all been more standard illustrations (as above), the scenes with everyone gathering at the car show and when it's Pico Nights' turn to show off, the people and cars once again have the "cut-paper" collage feel from the opening spread. After an excruciating wait and an enthusiastic announcement, the use of a somber illustration and succinct text, "The car ride home was quiet. “I don’t want to lose Pico Nights,” Gabi whispered, breaking the silence," viscerally communicate the result. It is a stunning and heart-tugging moment.

I love the less usual family structure of a father, grandfather, and daughter. And I adore the way Gabi's Papi and Abuelo surround her with love and help her adapt to, if not initially accept, the family's change in her own ebullient manner. I also love that the book, while giving Gabi the agency to try and figure out 'kid-friendly,' actionable ways to try and save Pico Nights, does not white-wash everything. Gabi ultimately gets what she needs, not what she wants. The book portrays an honest and compassionate way to deal with loss and presents an option for adapting to that change. A fun author's note explains a bit about the history of lowriders and cruising.

Resources:

Collage of a green origami car, a blue origami car, and a red cardboard car crafts.

make and decorate your own Origami 1, Origami 2, or cardboard lowrider. What will its name be?

make your own memory album with photos or your own drawn pictures. What are your special memories?

If you missed my interview with Laura De La Cruz on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.