Author Description

From School Library Journal reSchool-Grade 1-"Daddy turns the key. The engine roars-LOUD. We're on our way." So begins a family's road trip, told from a youngster's point of view, as the car passes people on bikes, zooms by trucks, goes over bridges, passes through city and countryside, and finally takes a small, winding lane to their destination. "No roads now. Only a gate, a path, the steps, and we're there! Grandpa opens doors. Grandma opens arms. Hugs are passed around." The simple text is more like poetry than prose. At times, the action is only suggested and readers need to fill in the details and meaning. The attractive acrylic illustrations, done predominately in blue and green hues, have a two-dimensional look to them, almost like still photographs. This is a quiet, contemplative family story, best suited for one-on-one sharing.Roxanne Burg, Thousand Oaks Library, CACopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Product Description A child's eye view of a family's road trip finds familiar sights giving way to long stretches of highway and lonely country roads until arriving at the final destination--the waiting arms of Grandma. From Booklist PreS-Gr. 2. Using the observations of kids in the backseat, Harshman tells a simple story of a family on a road trip. Dad turns the key and they are on their way--through familiar neighborhoods and the busy city ("Bridges stretch across / Buildings tower over / Trains rumble under,"), then on to the highway where the trucks thunder past. Mom navigates as they drive all night, the roads winding and narrowing until, at daybreak, they reach Grandma and Grandpa's house by the shore. The paved roads give way to grass and dirt and happy, bare feet, and there's Grandma's reassurance that "all good roads always lead you home." The lilting text has a soothing rhythm like the spinning wheels of a car, and the clear illustrations capture the sights the children see out the window as well from an omnisci