The Automobile License Plate Collectors Association is the world’s largest club devoted to the hobby; members benefit from a bimonthly newsletter, an annual convention, and regional meets (ALPCA, Inc., 508 Coastal Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23451; www.alpca.org ). Great plates abound on the Internet. Start at www.alpca.org, click on “Gallery” for select examples and on “Links” for the best hobbyist sites. Skip books that spotlight clever vanity plates, and opt instead for informative volumes. James K. Fox’s License Plates of the United States: A Pictorial History 1903 to the Present has color pictures of all U.S. plates through the mid-1990s, but it’s currently out of print, and used copies are expensive. A Moving History: 50 Years of ALPCA, 100 Years of License Plates , by Jeff Minard and Tim Stentiford, another illustrated overview, is available from Amazon.com, and I Love License Plates , by Thomson C. Murray, is perfect for video-sated kids traveling by car. Minard offers it for $12 on his eBay site ( http://stores.ebay.com/licenseplatesandbooks ).