"Road Trip"
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Publisher: Dial, June 2006
ISBN: 0803729278
written by Roger Eschbacher
pictures by Thor Wickstrom
all rights reserved
"Road Trip"
Look to this page for more details as they become available.
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Book Description:
A family piles into their car to head for a family reunion, embarking on a road trip that includes songs, games, food, motels, and decidedly off-beat roadside attractions.
This website and its contents are the property of Roger Eschbacher. Copyright 2002-2008. All Rights Reserved.
From the Inside Flap:
Vacation Time! Join the family as they grab their maps, snacks, and car games and jump in the car, ready for a trip to Grandma's house. What adventures await them along the way? The kinds found on every family road trip -- from crazy roadside attractions, to sleeping at a motel for the night, to hunting for silly postcards to send to friends at home.
Told in perfect read-aloud style, this is one book that is sure to bring giggles and fun (and maybe some quiet) to any ride in the car.
Road Trip Quotes
Road Trip Reviews and Kudos
Kirkus Reviews
For all young readers who have or are about to hit the road, Comedy Central-writer Eschbacher chronicles a family's two-day trip to Grandma's and back in short, bouncy verses. Wickstrom's lighthearted cartoon scenes open with Mom, Dad and four siblings piling into a minivan, close with a sleepy slideshow of fond memories and, in between, capture a string of typical moments, from fumbling with "Maps"-"North, south, east, west, / No matter how you hold it, / A map can put you to the test / When you try to fold it."-to games of "I Spy," from contemplating a bug-splattered windshield ("Grasshoppers have greenish guts, / Beetles are more brownish. . . . ") to stops at a motel, a roadside attraction and, at last, Grandma's, where a festive family picnic awaits. Like Natasha Wing's Night Before Summer Vacation (2002), illus by Julie Durrell, or Anne Rockwell's primer, On Our Vacation (1989), this makes ideal reading before, during or after a long drive. (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)
Baltimore's Child Magazine
What says summer more than a road trip? This collection of poems captures the anticipation and flavor of a crowded family car on the road—the fun, the fights, and the folding maps—rounded out by Thor Wickstrom’s detailed and funny illustrations.
- K. Smiley Public Library -- Redlands, CA
Staff Pick
Carol Elbert -- Raising Readers in Story County
Planning a family car trip? In this picture book, a family of six loads the car and starts early for a cross country drive to Grandma's house, with travel games, sing-alongs, truck stops, an overnight motel stay, and a family reunion. Young travelers will giggle at the funny details in the ink and watercolor pictures and the rhyming text. You may even get some useful ideas for on-road entertainment.
Clover Street School, Windsor CT
Recommended
Book Notes -- Minnesota State University, Mankato
Roger Eschbacher lets us join a family spending lots of time in their vehicle in Road Trip (Penguin). Mother, father, and four children spend two long days in the car on the way to a
family reunion at Grandma’s house “across the nation.” Short poems document such familiar situations as backseat squabbles, games of I Spy and license plate bingo,
insect-splattered windshields, and bathroom breaks. Brief stops at roadside attractions such as Bunyan’s Hive with “giant bees and wax abounding” provide opportunities to purchase postcards and souvenirs. The reunion features food, relatives, and reminiscences before the trip home that seems “twice as far.” Thor Wickstrom’s amusing illustrations capture both highs and lows of family travel.
Cuyahoga County Public Library -- Summer Reading Suggestions
A family sets out on a road trip to Grandma's house
for a family reunion, and on the way they spend the
night at a motel, eat at a roadside diner, and visit
Bunyan's beehive. Fasten your seatbelts and ride along for the fun!
Bookshelf Stores, Independent Book Retailer, Truckee, CA
Told in read-aloud style, Road Trip covers all the adventures found on the summer vacation staple known as the road trip. Join the trip to Grandma’s house, complete with early-morning alarm clocks, gas stops, and back-seat antics common in all families:
sing-alongs, I Spy games, license plate bingo, and the ever popular “are we there yet?”. Illustrations also entertain on this trip to the family reunion.
The Washington Missourian
Book Buzz -- Pick, July 2007
Now available in stores and on-line!
"Remember when kids on a road trip actually looked out of car windows instead of at DVD screens and personal game systems? Like little Lindberghs flying across a blacktop Atlantic, we had to combat boredom with games, songs and conversation. (And, yes, occasional pinching and arguing.)
In a destination-centered world, the journey often gets short shrift. Roger Eschbacher and Thor Wickstrom's "Road Trip" reminds families that it's still possible to drive through the world instead of past it."
--Tom Kenny
Voice of SpongeBob SquarePants
" 'Road Trip' is an adorable children's book which celebrates the beauty of the family experience in bringing joy and promising great memories for a lifetime."
--Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Internationally syndicated radio host
Author: BAD CHILDHOOD GOOD LIFE (HarperCollins)
"Chock full o' fun! This book took me back to my days as a kid and the great car trips my parents took us on. "Road Trip" is a must-have for any family about to embark upon that great American adventure."
--Julie McNally Cahill
Co-Creator of "My Gym Partner's a Monkey" on Cartoon Network.
"Roger Eschbacher uses our open highways as a fanciful canvas to capture one of the great American family vacation traditions, traveling by car. Whimsically illustrated by Thor Wickstrom, "Road Trip" captures an amusing side of Americana along the way. This is a lively, funny, and heart warming tale that young and old can relate to."
--Bella Shaw
Former CNN Anchor & Entertainment Writer
Author Appearance Info
(drop by and say howdy!)
2008:
Mint Canyon Elementary
Literacy Night
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
6:30-7:30p
Canyon Country, CA
Author Talk & Signing
Northpark Elementary Book Fair
Open House
Thursday, April 3, 2008
5:30p - 7:30p
Valencia, CA
Signing
2007:
"Children's Literacy & Arts Festival"
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Santa Clarita, CA
Staged reading of "Road Trip" with a signing immediately to follow.
"Southwest Florida Reading Festival" Saturday, March 17, 2007
Fort Myers, Fl
Reading & Signing
2006:
"Educators' Night"
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Barnes & Noble
Valencia, CA
Signing
"Educators/Authors Party"
2p, Saturday, October 14, 2006
Borders
Brea, CA
Signing
"Educators/Authors Party"
2p, Sunday, October 15, 2006
Borders
Arcadia, CA
Signing
"Educators/Authors Party"
7p, Monday, October 16, 2006
Borders
Riverside, CA
Signing
