The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart

Okay, this book. I was pretty sold on it just from the blurb--a father-daughter duo traveling around the country in an old bus? Yes please, fulfill all my dreams. 

And the cover! See that cover? 

That there is Coyote sitting on the top of Yager, the school bus, with Ivan the cat. A few wispy leaves, a touch of red, and a fancy script?  

A GREAT COVER. 

(Whoever said you shouldn't judge a book by the cover was full of baloney. A good cover is pretty vital. That is one thing I have learned as a school librarian--no matter how good the book, kids will not read it if the cover is some cheesy thing from the 1990s.) 

So a great cover, a great premise, and it even delivers. 

SO GOOD. 

The first page sees Coyote in a gas station in bare feet, choosing her slushie flavor wisely, (watermelon is always a mistake) while her dad is filling up. Strong start with an interesting female lead with plenty of depth. 

Coyote's hippie father Rodeo operates under the belief that if the past was hard (and it was) the only way to deal is to pretend it never happened. So his life (and by default, Coyote's life as well) is one giant game of pretend nothing bad ever happened and that we don't miss anyone at all. 

Which worked fine when Coyote was 8. But now that she is verging on being a teenager, she is beginning to question that philosophy a little bit. After a phone call from her grandmother that lets Coyote know a childhood park with nostalgic, personal treasure is being torn up, she has to finagle her father from Florida to Washington state to reclaim her treasure in a weeks time without him really being aware of it. Because going "home" is a hard no from Rodeo. Too painful. Just like his rule about Coyote never calling him Daddy. 

Hard, absolute no. 

With the help of a fate and a few wayward strangers, Coyote gets him very, very close to the goal before he figures out what is going on. That is when things fall apart a little bit for Rodeo. 

But when things fall apart Coyote can finally put them back together again in the right order for the first time in five years. Because sometimes fathers need their daughters. Just like daughters need their fathers to be fathers, not just traveling companions. 

My only minor complaint about this book is that the people they picked up along the way seemed a little like someone was checking off a checklist. An African-American? Check. A single Hispanic mother and son? Check. A misunderstood lesbian? Check. A crazy goat? Check... (oh wait--that was just a bonus.) That is not to say these characters were not well developed. I loved all of the characters. And how they joined Coyote's story was well done. The identities just seemed a teensy bit too coincidental. 

Don't let that put you off the book though--It was so good! I laughed and I cried. And there was hope. And a goat. And a bus. 

Read it! 

A world of Cities by James Brown

This is a terrific oversize book about... surprisingly, the cities of the world. 

Each city has a two page spread with limited color palette, which makes the colors they do use, pop.

I am pretty sure that if I was an actual book/art reviewer, I would have a great set of words to use in discussing art, but since I am just a pretend book reviewer, I will just stumble along with weird phrases. 

Around each page, small facts are wedged into the design. The white band around each page is even filled with information.

These pictures remind me of vintage travel posters. 

I have always been interested by this giant statue. Why so big? 

Love this quote.

Seriously, so much reading on each page.

Stockholm! I went there! I went there!

Okay. But there are a lot of orange and brightly colored buildings in Stockholm. It made me wonder why American buildings are all so monochromatic.

Paris, the city of lights

I know I put too many of these pictures in, but they were all so COOL. 

Toronto, our neighbor to the south. One of our friends just moved to Toronto and we now ask her how things are going "down there." We are so north, we are even north of (parts of) Canada. 

And the interesting endpapers. 

I'll Be Home for Christmas by Holly Hobbie

Toot and Puddle are two of my very favorite fictional piggies.

Staggering under a load of Christmas greens

 

Toot, as a seasoned world traveler is in Scotland.

Meanwhile, our little homebody, Puddle is at home getting Christmas ready.

 

Writing lists and cards to Toot

 

Toot singing Christmas carols with Scottish sheep in tam-o'shanters.

 

Sizing up a Christmas tree.

 

Toot, making his way home

 

Through snow and storm

 

I adore this picture. There is always at least one forest/woodland scene in Toot and Puddle books that makes my heart sing. This is that picture in this book.

 

Toot had even hitched a ride home in a sleigh with a big guy in a red suit.

The joy of a reunion between old friends!

 

Making plans in a cozy sort of way.

 

I love Toot and Puddle.

The Courage Test by James Preller

Father's Day approacheth! So here is a great father/son book. 

A father forces his somewhat estranged son to follow the Lewis and Clark trail as a jump start for his (the father's) book on Lewis and Clark. As a history, western landscape, and family relationships sucker, it had me at hello.

Overall, I liked it! There is a ton about Lewis and Clark which I really enjoyed. There were also place descriptions and how could they be anything but fabulous in the varied setting along the trail? 

Will and his father are not as one. After a recent divorce, Will doesn't see his father that often and highly resents this intrusion into his summer baseball plans. For what ever reason, his mother insists he go with his father. Although the adults in charge can force him to do things, they can't make him like it and Will is all set to hate the entire trip. He has been hearing about Lewis and Clark since he was named Merriweather William at birth--who really cares? Not Will. 

Somehow on this trip, he starts to care. He begins to see his father as a real human. A human he even enjoys being around at times. There are canoe trips, hiking trails, and a lot of driving. Along the way they pick up Maria Rosa, a illegal teenage girl. From the reviews I have read, this is where a lot of people have complaints about the book. Maria Rosa (spoiler!) is pregnant. This isn't overly discussed, but it is alluded to and referenced. In an otherwise unobjectionable book for the middle school crowd, teen pregnancy, no matter how slight, is a little surprising. However, this didn't bother me too much.  

In the middle of their canoe trip in Montana, Will and his dad run into one of his dad's friends, a Native American from Brooklyn, NY. He looks all back country and natural, but after meeting Will, he poses for a selfie real quick so he can "get something up on instagram before the light fades." I love the juxtaposition of the wilds of Montana and a hipster Native American from Brooklyn. Overall, I feel that this book does a pretty good job addressing the maltreatment of the Native people by the subsequent settlers, and even touches on the problems with how Lewis and Clark dealt with a slave they brought on the expedition with them. I like that they address these problems and give a few different perspectives on the Lewis and Clark trip. 

By the end of the book, Will learns the reason why he was forced to go on this trip, develops a close relationship with his father and has a new appreciation for "weird, old America." 

This was a quick, fun read. It wasn't too deep, but there was enough useful/quality content here for me to recommend it for the 9-12 crowd. I plan on getting the audio version for our western road trip this summer and inflicting it upon my kiddos. 

And while I am listening to it again, I might just concoct a unit research plan around this book to inflict upon my school kiddos.... 

Over the River and Through the Woods by Lydia Maria Child & Brinton Turkle

This is a beautifully illustrated version of the song. 

There is a black and white picture of Grandma and Grandfather getting ready next to the stanzas....

...and then a two page colored spread of the family on it's way. Aren't the pictures lovely and New England-y? I feel that Thanksgiving is at it's best in New England. No local bias or anything.

Grandma baking away

Through the woods

Setting the table

And finally, they arrive! Color bursts into Grandma and Grandpa's house! I like the idea of the black and white world awaiting the color of children. Of course it is massively egotistically supposing that older people have lives without color, but it is sort of how I feel getting ready for family coming home for Thanksgiving--the moment they arrive is when things start popping. 

And feasting commences! 

There Is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith

This book is poetical and lovely! It follows a little boy as he heads out into the world to see where he belongs. He visits group after group of animals, seeing if he fits with them. The wording is sparse, with much more to look at than read. And the words that are there are animal group names, which are terrific. I have loved animal group names ever since someone told me that a group of starlings is called a murmuration. There are so many lyrical ones--a wreck of seabirds, a scurry of squirrels, a wisp of snipe...  Here is a nice long list of them if you are interested. Just before I read this book, I was admiring these animal monogram prints with animal group names from Anthropologie. And wishing I could buy one of each to hang in my library. 

Until the school district or I win the lottery, we will make do with this book. 

Which kids probably like better anyway. 

He starts with a tribe of kids. 

Then he finds a colony of Penguins.

 I love the exuberance of this kid and his animal amigos!

A smack of jellyfish. Isn't that colorful and fun? 

An unkindness of ravens is one of my favorite group names. It sounds... mystical or something.

A troop of monkeys, a crash of rhinos, a band of Gorillas. 

A turn of turtles.

Army of caterpillars and flight of butterflies.

A sprinkle of fireflies and a family of stars.

Isn't this a gorgeous picture?

There is so much scope for the imagination in this book.

When he awakes (with sticky up hair), he finds a trail of shells. Which leads him to...

A tribe of kids!

The animals were fun, but they were not his people. But kids are his people. 

This is a marvelous celebration of kids. Of kids being a tribe to themselves, separate from adults.