Road Trip

As one of the reviews suggested, we bought this book before we took our kids on a driving trip to Colorado. It really made the whole idea of a driving vacation fun and an adventure for our children. It's one of our favorite bedtime stories. Not only do the kids recite all the rhymes by heart but it brings back memories of our own wonderful vacation!

What a cute book. It brought me back to my childhood where my siblings (3) and I piled in our Country Squire station wagon with a dog and a Grandma (not to mention 2 parents) and drove cross country. A must read for all kids who can't imagine driving to the grocery store without a DVD playing, let alone to Canada! Very funny and wonderful drawings.

"Road Trip" will be great fun for kids and highly nostalgic for parents. Roger Eschbacher's newest children's book, amusingly illustrated by Thor Wickstrom, is a fond reflection on the various details of a family car trip. While people obviously take less long car trips in favor of flying these days, it's hard to imagine anyone who couldn't relate warmly to this story. Parents will undoubtedly read it, as I did, in terms of a classic "Americana" road travel past, replete with corny roadside attractions and pre-chain marginal motels needing a look from Mom or Dad before paying for the night. Children will read or hear it in terms of their own car trip experience, perhaps confusedly noticing the absence of handheld games, DVD entertainment and iPods. Ultimately, I see this book as a look back at childhood driving vacations of most parents, but one which kids of today, the book's intended audience, can also relate to - and it sure doesn't hurt for kids to get a glimpse of America before the inundation of name brand chain motels, franchised fast food and portable electronics. "Road Trip" certainly provides that kind of experiential glimpse, and on their next car trip, I suspect most children will unconsciously be looking at the scenery instead of an LCD screen.

Like any good road trip, its the journey, not the destination and in "Road Trip" Roger Eschbacher and illustrator Thor Wickstrom give the reader a heck of a fun ride. Written for young readers (yet more intelligent than Tom Green's movie of the same name), the beautifully illustrated "Road Trip" takes the reader through the many wonders and staples of a two day family car trip in a warm, humorous vein. Told in playful and amusing rhyme, the story is one most parents can identify with. Eschbacher takes us through the family sing-a-longs, games like license plate bingo and "I Spy with My Little Eye", jackalopes, postcards, tourist traps (be sure to check out "Paul Bunyun's Hive"!) and the inevitable squabbling with siblings which leads dad to threaten to "turn this car around right now". Kids are sure to laugh at moments everyone can relate to like: "Gotta go, go, go. Can we stop, stop, stop? Dad says no, no, no. Will I pop, pop, pop?" Thor Wickstrom's illustrations are rich and clever, providing a lot to look at as one reads the book again and again (and the kids will want to read this one again--and unlike some kids books, that's something YOU won't mind doing either!). The great detail he puts into each page adds some nice jokes that go along well with Eschbacher's amusing story. It's a good read for kids who are either on, about to go on or just finished with their own first family road trip, while providing adults with a nostalgic look back to the days when they occupied the back seat and wondered "are we there yet?" It is sure to stir some memories.