See You Down the Road

Bridget and her family are Travelers. They're a little-known group of people in America who travel around the country, making money in usually illegal ways, and keep to themselves, with their own traditions and way of life. People who aren't Travelers are called Country, and Travelers usually isolate themselves from these people. They don't trust them, and only interact with them to scam money off of them. Travelers only go to Country schools for a few years, just long enough to know what they need to. Bridget is a little different from many Travelers in that way. She works Country jobs, as a cashier, and she's been going to Country schools years longer than most other Traveler teenagers. Still, though, she keeps to the Traveler way most of the time. She and her friend, Ann, make their money by ripping off the local K-mart in whatever town they're in. Her parents have arranged a marriage for her, with Ann's brother, Patrick. Her brother, Jimmy, has grown up helping their father fix driveways and roofs with watered-down sealant to make a better profit by scamming Country people. Bridget doesn't always like her life as a Traveler. She isn't sure she wants to marry Patrick, even though he's a nice guy and she does like him, but she's never see any way out of it. Then her uncle, Big Jim, takes Bridget, Jimmy, and Patrick with him all the way to Arizona, where they'll pull off the biggest scam that Bridget's ever been involved in. They'll sell condos that don't meet the building codes, and then run off with the money. The beauty of it is, the contractor won't dare tell on them, as he's the one who hired them to sell condos that don't meet building codes. In Arizona, Bridget has some time to think about a lot of things, and maybe even figure out what she wants. But then she makes a discovery about her family, one that could change everything for Bridget...The choice is hers, but what will she decide? Before reading SEE YOU DOWN THE ROAD, I had never heard of Travelers. I don't think many people have, but they're real people, and reading about them was very interesting. Their way of life is very different from the way most of us live, and this is an eye-opening book. Many of us don't realize how differently some people live from us, not just in far away places but right here in the United States. On top of that, SEE YOU DOWN THE ROAD is full of amazing characters, and is very well written. All of the characters are well drawn, realistic, and three-dimensional; even the very minor characters seem alive. The ending is not what we might expect from this sort of book, but it fits well, and is one that I really liked. It wasn't predictable, and it was still a happy ending. Whitney's ending, I felt, stayed true to the characters and flowed with the rest of the story wonderfully. Reviewed by: Jocelyn Pearce

I picked this up from my library one day to read over the summer, and I'm so glad I did. It didn't take me that long to read, because I really got into it. It is the story of a girl who's family are Travelers, like gypsies. They don't have real jobs, and they don't have permanent homes. They basically make their money by ripping people off and taking their money while doing odd jobs for them or selling items to them. The main character Bridget starts o question whether the life of a Traveler is the one for her. She has always wondered what it would be like to live in a real house and get an important job, and have a normal family. She wouldn't have to constantly be on the run, and she could go to the same school for more than a year and make real friends. The main character also feels a bit guilty sometimes about living this dishonest life of ripping people off. Meanwhile, Bridget is engaged to her older brother's friend Patrick, which was arranged by the parents of both families. Patrick is nice enough, and he's really hot, but Bridget wants to make her own choices about who she marries. Then, later in the book when Bridget finds out that her family has kept a secret from her, Bridget has to make an important decision about what kind of life she wants for herself. The ending was good on one hand, but on the other hand, I was upset with it. However, this is a great book that I recommend checking out from the library. It was interesting to learn how the "Travelers" lived.

"See you Down the Road" is an interesting story about a girl named Bridget who lives as a "traveler" or person who lives in a trailer and lives on the road. This book is filled with plot twists and turns, as well as heartbreak and hope, as Bridget questions whether the traveler lifestyle is right for her. She wonders who the mysterious woman her mother is always talking on the phone with could be. Bridget also questions her families values as they shoplift and steal from various stores and people, in order to bring in their income. She also wonders if her boyfriend Patrick is the right guy for her or not. As Bridget struggles with these questions about her life, the story moves along at a very fast-paced speed and keeps the reader intrigued throughout the whole journey. I reccommend this book for readers ages 13 and up, for it has some mature themes, but is still targeted for teenagers and young adults.

I really, really loved this book. I learned a lot about another culture even while reading about characters who seemed like very real, typical teenagers. The book asks a lot of difficult and intriguing questions, and it's never predictable. There are lots of surprises throughout the book. I hope to read more by this author!

I picked up Kim Ablon Whitney's See You Down the Road on a Friday evening and didn't want to put it down until I finished it! Not really knowing anything about the Travelers lifestyle before reading the book, I was intrigued to learn about it and to witness Bridget's angst as she struggled with the choices she had to make about staying loyal to her family versus forging a different kind of life for herself. Bridget's character was so believable and I must say I was very pleased by the book's ending! I found myself hoping that there will be a sequel because I really liked these characters so much!I found the writing to be so descriptive and realistic- I could really envision and feel each of the scenes, which made it a really fun read! I would (and did!) recommend this book to friends!