Customer Reviews

By the Side of the Road

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"I was fooling around in the backseat of the car with my little brother, Rudy..." So begins Richard's simple story of how he ended up living his life "by the side of the road." One thing led to another, as it usually does on a long car trip, until his father finally issued that well known and well worn ultimatum: "If you don't behave, I'm gonna pull over right here, and you can wait by the side of the road till we come and get you." But this time when his father pulled the car on to the shoulder and stopped, Richard decided to call his bluff and get out. And there he stood, by the side of the road. At first he was a little nervous, standing there. "An hour later I was kind of used to it. Two hours later it was where I wanted to live. Better than my house at least, where my mother and father were always telling me what to do." When his parents come back to take him home, he decides he likes it right where he is, and chooses to stay. As hours pass to days, then weeks, months, and eventually years, no one can convince Richard to go back home, and he makes quite a nice life for himself by the side of the road..... Jules Feiffer offers the ultimate childhood fantasy in this clever and engaging picture book. His straighforward text, with its deadpan delivery is secondary to the marvelous cartoon-like, black and white illustrations, and each page is filled with playful wit, expressive detail, and emotion. Unfortunately, Mr Feiffer goes a bit too far and too long, detailing Richard's entire roadside life, and concludes with a weak ending that detracts from an otherwise charming fantasy. Perfect for youngsters 10 and older, By The Side Of The Road is worth a read just for the artwork, and will delight kids with its intriguing, though unrealistic possibilities.

My two boys were 7 and 8 years old when we came across his book. They looked a bit puzzled when I started reading it to them, then became fascinated. They love this book!
I think the appeal is many-fold.
First, the parents are depicted as real people, much less than perfect, yet they do sincerely care about their children.
Then, of course, kids love to fantasize about actually taking charge of their lives and doing what THEY want. Of getting away with being truly defiant.
Also, this book is wonderfully unpredictable. There are multiple unexpected turns of events. And it all turns out well in the end.
I don't see any risk of my children thinking this book is a model for real life. They know it is a flight of fantasy, yet it is uncannily realistic and accepting in its depiction of how the protagonist experiences his life and how he feels about it.

The book sends mixed messages to children. What starts out as a message about empowerment and choosing one's own destiny, disintegrates into the opposite. The story is about a boy who chooses to be left on the side of the road rather than, depending on how you look at it, behave during a car ride, OR endure verbal abuse from a father with poor parenting skills.

The boy uses peaceful social protest to produce an end to tyranny. Ultimately, his parents are both upset and repentent (bringing the boy food, clothing and shelter). The boy, however, goes too far and becomes fanatical and self absorbed. He becomes enslaved to the idea of defying inequity even when it no longer exists. Instead of choosing a home and the company of friends and family, the boy chooses isolation, dwelling in a cave and takes satisfaction in a collection of articles about serial killers.

At the end of the story the boy grows up and he has a wife, kids, and his parents living with him in the cave. His brother has established his own "more modern" cave in Seattle. What started out as a celebration of independant thinking ends with all the characters thinking alike. The book ends with a single thought, "Thank God" all the cave dwellers say when they return to their home. Thank God for what?

When Richard won't stop goofing off with his brother in the backseat of the car, his parents leave him temporarily at the side of the road. Just to show them, he refuses to come home and builds his own living quarters beneath the ground and grows up, by the side of the road. This first person narrative uses cut-out, single and full-page pencil drawings that give a sense of earnestness to this ridiculous story and to portray Richard's new life and the story gives children a chance to think they might be able to take complete charge of their lives, even though most parents I know would bring their child kicking and screaming home.

...

I have to admit that when I found this book, I was so excited by the idea of the story, I bought two of them. I mean, what could be more entertaining? A parent who actually leaves the kid on the side of the road. I was always wanting to call that bluff on my parents. And in the future, I think I'll be wanting to use that threat plenty of times on my own car load of kids.

But then what began as a great idea fizzled into a nightmare on parenting. As you've read above, the KID decides HE doesn't want to go back home when his parents come back to get him. Then he creates his own life and own world by the side of the road.

Perhaps this really is a reflection of our day and age, and should be revered as such - a time where kids can determine how things go - where kids are the bosses and adults are supposed to listen to them.

And perhaps a seven year old is mature enough to read (or hear) this story and realize that that's all it is - a story - a childhood fantasy. However, for some reason, I don't think a seven year old has quite begun to separate fiction and reality, yet. And for some reason, I'd rather my kids were living in the fantasy world of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" rather than in a world where they can do something they shouldn't be doing and get away with it. That attitude already permeates reality as it is.

I did keep reading the story - hoping that _something_ would happen so the boy learned a lesson. But nothing does. He builds an underground house and has a family and his parents eventually come to live with him. And that's it.

By the way, if you're dying to read this book because of the conflicting reviews - check it out from the library... don't waste your money.

Out is good. Away is even better. Far away is better still.

In the late 60's I remember seeing a hitchhiker outside San Francisco holding a cardboard sign with one word: OUT.

This book recounts the glories of OUT, which are many: freedom, choices, time to think, creation, and many, many more.

It also warns any potential away-getters that others, for example, moms; dads; friends; potential mates hunting you down; possibly, though not necessarily, siblings; former teachers (not mentioned in the book but also likely, :-)) ) and sundry others.

This can be and is marketed as a child's picture book by our witty and simultaneously biting friend Jules Feiffer, but it is for the child in anyone.

It reached the child in me and, for 20 or so light minutes before I picked my fourth grader son up at school, made me, may I utter it, happy.

I hope and trust it will do the same for you whether you have a fourth grader or not.

I have never spent... more worthless [money] than that which I spent on this book (and I've been to Las Vegas). The book is supposed to be for children yet it promotes disrespect. It encourages children to believe they do not need their parents.

There is no plot, no story. There isn't even an ending. The family gets home and says, "Thank God." This children's book speaks of the main character's magazine article collection about serial killers.

It is not a worthless book. I use it to teach how not to write.