TILLY'S STAYCATION

Although initially disappointed about not getting to travel the way her friends do, Tilly comes to appreciate adventures close to home.

Tilly’s friends have many exciting plans: Tariq will go to India, Rory to the ocean, Paris to Paris and Chanel to Florida; Tim gets to go camping. She is openly jealous of their plans since she and her mother are not going away on vacation. But, beginning with breakfast in bed, Tilly’s mother has plans for special activities that will make her daughter’s “staycation” a special time even though they stay close to home. A trip to the library allows them to indulge in “stories of faraway places and marvellous people.” Signs pointing to page turns indicate subsequent destinations for mother and daughter, including a park, a swimming pool and a market. When they return home, they make a “vacation home” out of sheets, pillows and blankets in their apartment. As she and her mother cozy down to sleep, Tilly anticipates telling her friends all about the fun she’s had at home, and the final page showing them gathered together in her tent made of bed linens confirms this happy resolution. Throughout, cheery pictures adopt a naïve style that matches the playful tone of the text.

There’s no place like home, as Dorothy would say.