ROAD TRIP ANYONE?

Did you have a road trip this summer with your family? Take your pick of these two books about a road trip where both are titled Are We There Yet? by two veteran authors, Nina Laden and Dan Santat.  

In the first Are We there Yet? by Laden, the sights get more and more interesting during the drive but our traveler's only response when he arrives at grandma's was that the trip was boring. Boring?! I think not. He must have slept during that portion through outerspace!

Our second road trip, also going to grandma's for her birthday, our young backseat traveler is feeling bored and asks that classic question "Are we there yet?" But this time strange things happen as time slows down and goes literally backward.  An added feature in Santat's Are We There Yet? include QR codes for readers to discover the secret coded messages. An unusual story to really sit down and scour the pages for every detail.  

For readers in preschool and older.  

THE LONG HAUL

Sit back and laugh as you go on this chaotic, hilarious road trip with Greg, the main character.  Greg is the middle child of three boys and part of semi-ordinary family. Susan, Greg’s mother, never fails to surprise the family with last minute vacations. Once again, like the other family vacations no one gets to decide where to go except for the mom.  

Greg Heffley shares every moment of what it means to go on a horrible family road trip. Poor Greg who ends up sitting in the back sit along with the rest of the family belongings cannot find anything amusing about his situation.  His mom tries really hard to get everyone to participate in educational games as well as learning Spanish.  Many unpleasant situations occur as the family tries to reach their destination, the beach. When the family finally makes it to their first stop things get worse. The motel they stay at could not get any worse than it already was. Seagulls, car crashes, and winning a pig are just a few of the trip’s highlights.

The Long Haul is the 9^th book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series. Jeff Kinney will definitely make the reader laugh out loud. 

For grades 3 -7.

SUMMER TRAVEL

It's summer vacation and everyone knows that means ...ROAD TRIP!!!! What else will you do do with the kids for the next two and a half months? Check out these two books about two families crossing across all fifty states.

Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America by Lynne Cheney and Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser is inspired by Cheney's experiences with her grandkids to write what is basically a history book in the guise of tour book. It's lavishly illustrated and accompanied with lots of tidbits about each state on a double page spread. Sometimes the information is too much and your eyes kind of glaze over but overall it's chockful of stuff and it's great to pore over a few states at a time with your kids.

Go, Go America: 50 States of Fun by Dan Yaccarino has a more retro feel, theYaccarino family way back when perhaps? Yaccarino also gives each state a double page introduction with his stylish minimal approach to illustration. There are kooky historical facts, obscure head scratching laws as well as the more straight forward info all rolled into one really fun book for everyone from the very young all the way up.


And if you don't get to go to all 50 states this summer, these books might inspire you to look for a fun event going on in your local town or discover an intereseting fact about your area . Start your station wagon, I mean your SUV, or maybe Prius? Well, your car. Start exploring everybody!

For readers of all ages.