Mater always has an outrageous story to tell his friends. From a drift race through Tokyo and a bulldozer fight in Spain to a fire-squad rescue misson and a stunt jump across Carburetor Canyon, Mater’s tall tales make his friends wonder. . . . Was he really a world-champion monster truck wrestler? Even Mater’s best friend, Lightning McQueen, isn’t quite sure—although he’s part of each wild adventure! To add to the fun, all nine Cars Toons feature full-color images on every page.

Amazing adventures await readers who open this book. Everyone’s favorite Disney•Pixar CARS stars—Lightning McQueen and Mater—are featured in three hilarious tall tales: "Rescue Mater," "El Materdor," and "UFM: Unidentified Flying Mater." Tucked in the back of this book is a giant poster of Lightning McQueen and Mater for kids to decorate with the included reusable stickers. At nearly 2 1/2 feet wide, the poster makes a dramatic wall decoration that fans will treasure.

In this collection of tales, Mater spins his stories of his past as a matador, a daredevil stunt car, and the hero of a rescue-squad unit.

Mater the tow truck tells race car Lightning McQueen far-fetched stories about how he used to be a rockstar, a UFO, and a drifting king.

Mater leaps into the ring to wrestle monster trucks in this 3-D storybook that comes complete with a pair of 3-D glasses. Full color. Consumable.

Today we associate the Renaissance with painting, sculpture, and architecture—the “major” arts. Yet contemporaries often held the “minor” arts—gem-studded goldwork, richly embellished armor, splendid tapestries and embroideries, music, and ephemeral multi-media spectacles—in much higher esteem. Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, was typical of the Italian nobility: she bequeathed to her children precious stone vases mounted in gold, engraved gems, ivories, and antique bronzes and marbles; her favorite ladies-in-waiting, by contrast, received mere paintings. Renaissance patrons and observers extolled finely wrought luxury artifacts for their exquisite craftsmanship and the symbolic capital of their components; paintings and sculptures in modest materials, although discussed by some literati, were of lesser consequence. This book endeavors to return to the mainstream material long marginalized as a result of historical and ideological biases of the intervening centuries. The author analyzes how luxury arts went from being lofty markers of ascendancy and discernment in the Renaissance to being dismissed as “decorative” or “minor” arts—extravagant trinkets of the rich unworthy of the status of Art. Then, by re-examining the objects themselves and their uses in their day, she shows how sumptuous creations constructed the world and taste of Renaissance women and men.