road trips

Red Fox Road

Sophie Rosen ,

Greenslade, Frances. Red Fox Road. Toronto: Puffin Canada, 2020.
Thirteen-year-old Francie and her parents are on a road trip, travelling from B.C. to Arizona. They are supposed to be having fun, but her parents can’t stop arguing. Her mother wants to use a road map; her father insists on using a GPS. He turns onto an old logging road and in the middle of the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, their truck hits a rock. They’re stuck. Francie’s father is sure he can walk out and get help. Francie and her mother are left to wait, day after day, wait. Finally, Francie’s mother sets off for help, walking in the opposite direction. Francie is now completely alone. Will she be able to survive? This gripping story of survival is sure to appeal to readers who enjoy suspense novels. 

More stories of survival

 

Longing for freedom…

Sophie Rosen , ,

Stratton, Allan. The Way Back Home. Toronto: Scholastic Canada, 2017.
Zoe does not want her grandmother to be moved into a care home. But Alzheimer’s disease is making it increasingly unsafe for her grandmother to live on her own. What can Zoe’s parents do to cope with the situation? What can Zoe do to help?
She decides to take her grandmother on a road trip to Toronto to find a long-lost uncle. But more surprises and more difficulties are in store than she anticipated. Now how will Zoe cope?
A modern tale of family relationships and gender identity. While the frequent colloquialisms will make this book sound dated within a few years, it is a quickly paced story that will appeal to many readers 13 to 17 years old.

More LGBT stories

More stories of modern social problems

Remembering our vacation…

Sophie Rosen , , , ,

Perkins, Lynne Rae. Pictures from Our Vacation. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2007.
What joy! A girl recounts a summer trip with her parents and brother to the family farm in Canada where she meets all sorts of relatives. How  intriguing! The words in the story never mention Canada, but the large map showing the journey marks the destination north of Lake Ontario. The words in the story also never name the main character or her brother, so readers can easily imagine themselves and remember their own family trips. How wise!  The girl reflects – at the end of the story – that the photographs she took with her new camera can’t capture the most important parts of the journey: the stories she heard and the emotions she felt. Only her memories can really keep that vacation alive.
The design, the text, and the pen and ink and watercolour illustrations all work together to create a picture book for all ages.

More summer vacation stories HERE 

Lynne Rae Perkins’ website HERE