ROAD TRIP

For all young readers who have or are about to hit the road, Comedy Central–writer Eschbacher chronicles a family’s two-day trip to Grandma’s and back in short, bouncy verses. Wickstrom’s lighthearted cartoon scenes open with Mom, Dad and four siblings piling into a minivan, close with a sleepy slideshow of fond memories and, in between, capture a string of typical moments, from fumbling with “Maps”—“North, south, east, west, / No matter how you hold it, / A map can put you to the test / When you try to fold it.”—to games of “I Spy,” from contemplating a bug-splattered windshield (“Grasshoppers have greenish guts, / Beetles are more brownish. . . . ”) to stops at a motel, a roadside attraction and, at last, Grandma’s, where a festive family picnic awaits. Like Natasha Wing’s Night Before Summer Vacation (2002), illus by Julie Durrell, or Anne Rockwell’s primer, On Our Vacation (1989), this makes ideal reading before, during or after a long drive. (Picture book/poetry. 6-8)