The Absolutely True Story...How I Visited Yellowstone Park With The Terrible Rupes [Paperback]

Willo Davis Roberts (Author)

Book Description

Lewis and Alison's vacation should be lots of fun. Driving to Yellowstone in a motor home, seeing all the fantastic sights, getting to know their new neighbors...the trip should be a blast. It turns out to be anything but.

First they discover their hosts, the Rupes, have no interest in nutrition, manners, or their own children. Even worse, two strange men seem to be following them. Could they have something to do with the one-hundred-dollar bills little Billy Rupe keeps finding in the motor home? Lewis is afraid the answer is yes -- and he should be.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7?Twelve-year-old twins Lewis and Alison are invited to join their new neighbors, the five-member Rupe family, on a summertime trip from Washington state to Yellowstone Park in a rented motor home. Though pleased to be going, Lewis realizes that he and Alison (especially Alison) will be responsible for Billy, 4, and Ariadne, 3, as brother Harry, 12, and the wealthy, laissez-fair parents seem oblivious to the needs of the two mischievous youngsters. Lewis often reflects on the orderly comfort of his own home with its wholesome meals and consistent parents, as traveling with the Rupes involves driving mishaps, frayed nerves, missing children, and a surfeit of junk food. Even the fascinating scenery is dimmed by the Rupes boorish behavior, but the real discomfiture surrounds Billy's puzzling discovery of stray $100 bills in the motor home and the sense that they are being tailed by two suspicious-looking men. Danger intensifies when the men seize the vehicle and drive off with the children on board. The kids use clever guerilla tactics to foil the predictably nasty kidnappers and save the day in this high-spirited tale of action and light suspense, reminiscent of Roberts's popular Baby-Sitting Is a Dangerous Job (Atheneum, 1985).?Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Sringfield, VT
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-7. Twelve-year-old Lewis thinks he's the luckiest kid around when he's invited to go to Yellowstone with his next door neighbors the Rupes, who eat junk food, don't assign chores, and seem to do exactly what they want. He even gets his twin sister, Alison, invited so that she can take care of the younger Rupes. Yet the irresponsibility and even the junk food gradually lose their appeal as the days pass in the luxurious motor home. Mr. Rupe's ineptness in driving a vehicle this large is downright scary, Mrs. Rupe leaves all the child care to Alison, the entire family appears uninterested in any of the sights along the way, and the motor home seems to be attracting two menacing men who follow them cross-country. Roberts has written a humorous mystery, more humor than mystery. The Rupes are the quintessential ugly Americans--even in America--and in spite of the de rigueur kidnapping of all the children, the thieves are more bumbling oafs than terrorists. Yet humorous fiction for this age, especially for boys, is hard to find. Consider this an investment in circulating slapstick. Frances Bradburn --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Aladdin (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068981464X
• ISBN-13: 978-0689814648
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #494,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wild and fun story, August 23, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Absolutely True Story...How I Visited Yellowstone Park With The Terrible Rupes (Paperback)

This book was very good, and I will be reading more book by this author, Willo Davis Roberts. Lewis and Alison (twins) are invited to go to Yellowstone Park with their new neighbors, the Rupes. There parents argree to let them go. The Rupe kids, Harry, Ariadne, and Billy will be going on the trip with Alison and Lewis. After packing everything they need in their motorhome, a man from the company which they got their motorhome from drives up and says that they need to trade motorhomes. When the Rupes ask why, the man says that another family needs this one because this one has an ice maker and water machine. Mr. Rupe refuses to trade and drives away to Yellowstone Park. Soon, though, Alison and Lewis relize that the same blue car has been following them. They learn that they work at the company where they got there motorhome, and that they hid money in their motorhome (a lot of money). Soon the Rupe kids, Alison, and Lewis are found kidnapped, and they need a plain to escape.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Absolutely True Story..., May 29, 2002

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Absolutely True Story...How I Visited Yellowstone Park With The Terrible Rupes (Paperback)

The Absolutely True Story is about two twins, a girl named Alison and a boy named Lewis, that have an unforgettable vacation with their new next door neighbors. Early in July the Rupes, a family from San Francisco, moved in to the empty house across the street from Alison and Lewis. The family included a boy about the age of Alison and Lewis named Harry, his mom, dad, and two younger siblings, Ariadne and Billy. After about a week, Lewis and Harry became good friends with Alison tagging along sometimes but mostly she played with Ariadne and Billy. At the end of July when the boys had grown very close, the Rupes invited Lewis and Alison to drive to Yellow Stone Park with them. They invited Lewis to come along just for fun, but they said Alison must be willing to baby sit the younger kids once in a while. Alison was delighted and said she wouldn't mind at all baby sitting the kids. Right as the Rupes were pulling out of the driveway to drive for four days to get to Yellow Stone Park, two men from the motor home company stopped them. The two men said there Mr. Rupe was so mad that without warning he just backed up and drove off leaving the two men standing in their driveway. After a few days, Lewis and Alison noticed that the two men from the motor home company had been following them. More days pass and Lewis and Alison begin to become scared because they saw the men snooping around the motor home. Each day the twins became more frightened and they had a good reason to be. This simple trip to Yellow Stone Park will turn into a vacation they will never forget.

I feel as though I could be the Alison in this story. I have a brother though he is older than I am, and I have a younger sister. We both have to baby sit younger children. (I baby sit my sister and she baby sits Ariadne and Billy). In the book Alison sometimes feels overwhelmed by her responsibility for taking care of Ariadne and Billy and I sometimes feel the
same way about taking care of my sister. I also relate to Alison because I have a friend, whose mom lets her eat anything and everything she wants, to say it plainly she is very spoiled just like the Rupe's kids.

The Absolutely True Story is a very good, exciting, and mysterious book. I had a great time reading it. My favorite part of the book is when the two men from the motor home company were following the Rupes and snooping around their campsite. I kept asking myself "What on earth are they looking for?" This was a mysterious, funny, and very frightening part of the book. If I could change a part of this book I would probably change the scenery. I would have the Rupes, Alison, and Lewis take a plane to France to see the sites and have people from the motor home company follow them around Paris where it is more exciting and much larger.

I recommend The Absolutely True Story because it is a well-written, mysterious, and adventurous book with lots of funny and scary scenes. Id also recommend it because it actually relates to everyday life in the real world. I'd recommend it to 10-12 year olds because it would be hard for a younger kid to comprehend all the words in this book but the book might be a little boring for kids over 12. The Absolutely True Story is a very good book. I really enjoyed reading it, and I recommend it to anyone from 10-12 looking for a great, mystery book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good story...great author, July 5, 2001

By 

Valerie Lockhart (Shreveport, Louisiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Absolutely True Story...How I Visited Yellowstone Park With The Terrible Rupes (School & Library Binding)

This book was really fun to read. The plot was great, and the characters were easy to identify with. It was suspenseful, and the ending was fun. I liked how the characters worked together to solve this despite their differences. It was really neat.