From Publishers Weekly
This out-of-the-ordinary book celebrates an active imagination and the diversity of the American road. One evening during a visit to her grandparents Maggie and Grandaddy envisage a cross-country drive at the wheel of a large freight truck. Their scenic odyssey leads "as far west as you can go on 30 West"--past Pittsburgh, Chicago, across the Mississippi and over the Rocky Mountains, and finally to the Pacific Ocean. Diller's warm intergenerational story offers a subtle geography lesson in the form of a loosely structured fantasy, peppered with such childlike images as fetching a cold drink "right out of the ground" at Soda Springs, Idaho. Sorensen's painterly illustrations handsomely contrast the grandeur of nature with true-to-life portraits of attractively ordinary folk. Despite a bland cover and a rather abrupt beginning, this collaboration exudes a quiet, down-home charm. Ages 6-9.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 1-3-- This highway tale may be of more interest to those who have traveled the route to which it pays homage than it will be to youngsters. As Grandmother chides her husband to, "Let Maggie sleep," he and the child begin their trip west on U. S. Route 30. They hook their imaginations to the tractor-trailer headlights that beam against the walls of Maggie's bedroom in Pennsylvania and then are off across the country, all the way to the Pacific, enjoying stops along the way. The realistic illustrations have a dreamy element that highlight the fantasy, especially as Maggie gets behind the wheel. Some readers will enjoy mapping out the journey; others will not stay with the rambling text long enough to figure out that they never leave home. Jeannette Caines's Just Us Women (HarperCollins, 1982) is a more appealing story. --Sharron McElmeel, Cedar Rapids Community Schools, IA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
