From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2–A girl tells her new baby brother how to prepare for the long car ride and what to expect when they arrive at their grandparents' house. Her rendition includes something about every season, concluding that "ANYTIME is the BEST TIME" to visit. The telling is succinct and the words flow rhythmically. Together with the softly colored illustrations full of curving lines, the book introduces readers to a comfortable, loving experience. Each spread pictures up to three events, in a series that expands on the text. Lines between pictures are not defined, also leading to a soft, soothing feeling. Pair this title with Sheila Hamanaka's Grandparents Song (HarperCollins, 2003) for a more diverse grandparent experience; Cynthia Rylant's The Relatives Came (Atheneum, 1985) for a broader spectrum of relatives; Mariesa Oxford's Going to Grandma's (Raintree, 1992; o.p.), in which a child anticipates visiting her grandparents' farm; and Judith Caseley's Grandpa's Garden Lunch (Greenwillow, 1990), in which a girl helps tend her grandparents' garden and then eats lunch made from its produce.–Kathleen Simonetta, Indian Trails Public Library District, Wheeling, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
PreS-Gr. 3. In a story that's part car-trip memories and part reminiscence of past visits, a little girl gives her baby brother an excited account of what to expect on a visit to their grandparents and a crash course on surviving the long trip to get there ("take lots of books, three games, and all your crayons"). The really fun bits are the girl's comic accounts of driving her parents to distraction by asking "Are we there yet?" over and over. The illustrations are what bring this somewhat prosaic tale leaping to life. Bogacki, who illustrated Emily Jenkin's Five Creatures (2001), breaks the traditional double-page-spread mold by filling the pages with panels of varying sizes--ovals and slashes and curving cutaways--that will fully engage children while perfectly illustrating a narrative that shuttles between dreams and reality. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
