Vacations Books

I'm psyched for summer. I'm a SAHM and just read this tonight (I did do a lot of skimming as far as the actual crafts and stuff but read all the introductory text in each section).

I have no idea why someone would say this is geared toward working moms. There is a part in the beginning saying how to ADAPT it to working moms, but most if it deals with what to do with your kids on a day-to-day basis in the summer to help them entertain themselves (and avoid the "I'm bored" monster) along with teaching different values and focusing on different areas of their growth. I actually don't think it would work that great for working moms - did I miss something?!

There is a lot that I skipped over, such as how to help them earn money doing different summer jobs, and with any "list" type book of tips and ideas, there are some I already knew and a lot I probably won't use. However, just the craft part alone is worth the cost of the book. I got it from the library but am on here right now finding a copy to own so I can highlight and dog ear.

There are many many craft ideas that are actually cheap, unlike a lot of craft books and magazines that require you to buy special expensive ingredients and ending up with crafts that the kids can't even make well so the parent ends up taking over. The ingredients in here that look like they might be costly are used over and over again so at least you are not buying a big box of something like Borax or liquid starch and only using a tablespoon. And the crafts seem to be easy enough for the age range of 6-9 that I'm looking for. There are enough crafts that I'm interested in that I actually think it would take several summers to do them all!

I've already enrolled my 9yo and 6yo in a few day and overnight scout-type camps but was looking into some expensive daycamps at the Y and elsewhere (starting at $200 a week for both boys - yikes!) to keep them occupied during the day, since I plan to turn the tv and video games off for the summer. Now I realize I can actually enjoy doing camp-type activities with them without Mom getting too bored, and still have enough time to do the things I, myself, need and want to do this summer. Especially since there are a lot that require planning on my part but that they can implement all by themselves.

BTW, it has definite Christian overtones. If you are not big on Christian literature, as I am not, don't be turned off. It's not preachy and there is plenty here for parents of any religion or even no religion, like me.

There were some helpful worksheets and ideas, however, over all it is geared toward the working mom. Also if you homeschool - most of the ideas don't fit but some could be modified.

Sure kids need some time to relax over the summer but quickly become bored. What's a busy parent to do ?
I was delighted to discover this book after reading about in in the Maine Sunday Telegram. The author advises really listening to your children's input on what excites them, but also wants the parent to offer suggestions and set limits.
A child may think watching cartoons non-stop makes a fun summer. This book gives ideas (tennis, hiking, other exercise or structured programs). I highly recommend investigating the free programs at your local public library. They might be able to lure your child into reading for pleasure (or reward).
The book wants you to get resourceful and creative with your children. Learn origami or stamp collecting or take turns with other parents teaching the children new skills.
The author also suggests a designated "pickup time" each day to gather up the toys and do a 10-minute clean up. Great idea!
There are lots of things to do in the summer with children and many are inexpensive. Turn off the TV and turn on your family to having fun together this summer.

Even as an adult, you will enjoy reading through this book and appreciating all the witty humor associated with this five year old and all that comes his way!
Blume is an excellent writer. Like most of her books, this book is packed with dialogue and never a dull moment with five year old Fudge!

We used this book for our summer reading book club and all the kids loved it.
It was fun to read and very entertaining for our group of 9 & 10 year olds!

This book is awesome and hilarious. Fudge-A- Mania is the kind of book that if you have a little brother you will understand how Peter Hatcher feels. In this book Peter's little brother, Fudge, meets a girl named Mitzi. Her dad is Peter's favorite pro baseball player. Peter tries to keep them together so he can meet Mitzi's dad. Oh did I mention they're all in Maine. It isn't a 4 star book because it is okay. But it was not as exciting as The Tales of the 4th Grade Nothing, but it is still a great book so go get this book now!

This was a great book! Cute. Funny

This book is one of the better Garfield books because it is in color. It gets crazy, but who cares? Garfield and Odie's escape from the volcano was really cool!

When Garfield learns that John is taking him and Odie on vacation he dreams of a wonderful paradise escape but that isn't to be. They're travelling 3rd class to an El-Cheapo resort on an island where the natives worship the only car the rental place has to offer.

Why do the worship it? Because once, many years ago, the local volcano threatened to go off and destroy their tribe. A stereotypical 50's rebel teen drove his classic car (the exact same one John has rented) into the volcano to keep the gods happy.

Now the volcano is getting angry again and the natives expect John to drive into the volcano just like the James Dean guy did before!

The book is full of bright and colorful pictures and Garfield's orange and black fur definitely looks better here than in the black and white pocket books. There are other full-color Garfield stories (such as Garfield in the Rough, Garfield on the Town), but this is one of the best.

Recommended for adults and children who love that cat.

Overall it was very informative. The categories were well laid out for comparison. There were a few ranches that were not included so I had to rely on their own websites. Kilgore makes you want to get out on the ranch immediately. We are looking forward to our first ranch vacation. Kilgore made the choice easier for sure.

Very thorough information on 100 dude ranches across the country. Info is very detailed and thoughtfully written. Made it easy to decide which ranch fit our needs and had the amenities we were looking for.

The recently published 7th edition of Gene Kilgore's Ranch Vacations describes over 90 guest, resort, fly-fishing, and Winter ranches in North America. Whether you are looking for a private getaway, a working dude ranch, or resort for the whole family, this is by far the most comphrensive guide available in bookstores today. Author Gene Kilgore, widely considered the recognized authority on ranch vacations, has traveled thousands upon thousands of miles to tell you the reader tidbits of information about the setting, rates, activities, accomodations, dining options, entertainment and children's programs. He also includes helpful advice on how best to reach your destination. As in past editions, Kilgore has included wise sage tips on choosing the right ranch, what to pack, helpful maps, and a wonderful glossary of ranch terms. The 7th edition of this book sits on a shelf in my personal study alongside the six previous editions and will no doubt help me plan yet another ranch vacation for my family as we love to relive the time honored traditions of dude ranching. I commend the author on his commitement to opening the eyes of his readers to the beauty that is ranch country. Happy trails await you.

Do you want to be a millionaire? This book is called the get rich quick club by Dan gutman. This book is about a group of kids who want to be Millionaires so they try to get a real UFO so they can take a picture of it and gives it to a newspaper reporter so they can be millionaires. But will they be rich? Will they ever get to see a
Real UFO? Well you will have to read this book to find out!
I like this book because it starts with this really weird dream
It is about... you thought I was going to tell you right?
That's why you should read the book to find out. Another
Reason I like this book is because it has this really
Exciting part that you do not want to miss. This book is
A humorous book. I shouldn't tell you anything
Else because I might tell you the secret! I recommend this book
To people who like money. I hope you enjoy this book.
If you read it!

The Not So Well Club!


Will the 5 boys get rich by selling a fake U.F.O picture or will they not get rich by
selling the picture!

The Get Rich Quick Club is about 5 boys find an idea of a fake UFO picture and they plan to sell it to get money. The boys don't make it, but they all have fun. One of the kids tells the people that the picture is fake. What will happen next?

I think the author's purpose is to tell kids to be truthful and to entertain kids.

My favorite part of the book is when the boys start the get rich quick club because the boys all try to think of funny ideas to get rich. For example, they tried to create a fake UFO picture using house supplies. The picture kind of worked...they didn't get rich, but they got famous.

I recommend this book because it is funny. It also shows kids how they can make money.
By: Julia

Have you ever wondered about UFO`s or the secret of the universe? Well there is a book with adventuresome kids who experience all of this. This great book is titled The Get Rich Quick Club. This marvelous book is by the famous Dan Gutman.
This book is all about a girl who loves money and who`s role model is Bill Gates who was the richest man in the world. Her name is Gina Tumulo and she made a oath to make her first million dollars by the time she is twelve. The problem is that she is eleven and time is running out. Then one day she goes to the tree behind her house and finds her friends Rob, Quincy, Eddy, and Teddy. They decide to form a club to make a million dollars. Then they decide to snap a phony UFO photo.
I would rate this book 4 out of 5. I would recommend this book for anyone between the ages 7 and eleven. I enjoyed it a lot. I hope you read it.

by Sean

Jane St. Anthony's Grace Above All reads like a lazy summer day, appropriate for its cabin-on-a-lake vacation setting, which exists outside of the passage of time. Sure, the days may pass slowly as the weeks fly by, but such a vacation spot remains unchanged year after year. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, to determine what year the novel is set in. The clues are sparse. The story must occur in or after 1966, because it makes reference to the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City," but it was long enough ago that child safety restraints were unthought of, Little Lulu was on comic stands, and penny candy actually cost a penny (or less).

The prose is typically unspectacular, letting its moments of brilliance stand out and shine. The same could be said for the character development. Many of the characters are one-dimensional. For example, the love interest is a stock "charming, handsome boy-next-door" figure. The mother, pegged as lazy and neglectful, is given no reason for these character traits-no childhood trauma, no mental illness...she's just lazy. But Grace, the narrator, gains depth as the pages turn. The aching and excitement she feels as she awkwardly navigates her way into her first love is hauntingly familiar.

Grace experiences a few minor epiphanies as she works at making sense of the world, but there is no dramatic character change. During the anticlimactic confrontation between Grace and her mother, and in the shallowly sloping denouement that follows, the heroine and her nemesis make only minor, nearly imperceptible behavioral changes. One could hardly expect more from a book that spans not-quite-two weeks. The resolution may overgeneralize a little, but it doesn't pretend to explain anything, or even give much hope for lasting character change. In short, it is realistic.

3.5 out of 5

Grace sets out to rescue her sister, adrift in an inflatable raft, and in doing so finds herself entangled with Frankie, a handsome boy who assists in the rescue. What evolves from that act of bravery is a newfound understanding of herself and her world in GRACE ABOVE ALL, a fine teen leisure read about self-understanding and relationships.

Grace is just trying to be a normal kid, but she finds it is pretty hard when her mom sleeps and smokes all day and she is left taking care of her younger siblings.

She thinks things will change when the family takes a trip to a cabin on the lake for a couple of weeks, hoping that maybe her mom just needs to relax.

WRONG! All of the responsibility falls on Grace, as usual.

She does meet a boy, though, named Frankie. He is very cute and likes her back, but they can never be alone because Grace is always stuck caring for her brothers and sisters.

This is a great book, following The Summer Sherman Loved Me, and I give it 4 stars!

Reviewed by: Audrey

This children's picture book won the 1991 Children's picture book of the year (Australia). A child tells of her family camping trip to Sandy Beach, the adventures they have and the people they meet. It is beautifully written, and told as if the child is recalling her adventure, it's almost like reading a postcard. A nice little message about not judging people by their appearance, is also in this book.

We have been reading this book at bedtime to our four year old son for over a year now. He quotes from it when we go camping (you have to read the book to get that reference), and he is vastly amused when we write his name in snow or sand, "not with a stick, with Quentin!" Just a delightful book for anyone who has ever gone on a family vacation.

This book is sooooo funny, if you've ever been on a car vacation with family. Good story about being a family and about pre-conceived notions - without being trite and preachy. We just adore this book. Illustrations -- the best.

I often glance at these reviews before ordering a book, but even more often I return to them after reading the book to compare my own response to those of other readers. I've never written a review myself, but I'm going to take a stab at how significant I think this novel is here. If you haven't read Hook, Line and & Homicide, and don't want to know "who done it," skip to the two other reviews posted before this date, for there will be spoilers here. Come back later and tell me what you think.

I've given the work five stars, although I have a "style" complaint. It's a matter of my own taste, others may not agree, and the author may may be deliberately trying for an effect. Zubro gets repetitive with overwhelming use of the word "said" in writing conversations -- the "saids" line up like soldiers at the start of short sentences on some pages, especially when he's questioning a witness or a suspect. It's a risk in writing scenes of interigotation in a mystery, of course, but it gives the story a wooden style, a literary equivalent to the dialogue of Jack Webb in TV's Dragnet. There are descriptive alternatives that will tell the reader who is speaking. My rewrite of an exchange between Paul Turner and his sons on page 3 cuts four and leaves in just the first "said" :

Jeff said, "He's gonna look weird if he doesn't have any fishing stuff."
Brian made a crosseyed face. "He enjoys being wierd"
Jeff gave him a smirk. "And he won't drive with us. He's flying in."
Paul continued to sort lures in his tackle box. "Teenagers and kids make him nervous."
Brian stopped laughing. "Don't most people make him nervous?"

-- This sort of approach helps us see what the characters are doing, as well as keep track of who's speaking. Zubro is wonderful at descriptions of exciting, even violent action (the several dangerous scenes involving boats on the Lake of the Woods are examples) but conversations are mostly said, said, said. But, I firmly believe that an author has the right to shape and define the world of his novel as he chooses and the reader is a visitor to that world. If the "saids" are a conscious stylistic choice of Zubro's to enhance the "investigatory" nature of mystery writing, I'll put up with them, for I thoroughly enjoy my visits to the world of both the Paul Turner series and the neighboring Tom and Scott series.

We're away from the usual setting of Chicago here. The other books in the two Chicago series have a resonance for me, having grown up at the end of the South Shore commuter rail line in the corner of Indiana that is part of "Chicagoland" and having graduated from Northwestern University a half century ago. (I am also a distant relative of the original owner of the Cubs.) Zubro places this story in foreign territory I know well, however, from frequently using International Falls as a crossing point into Canada as Paul's family does. "They drove west until they picked up Highway 71 going north." If they'd stopped at Ontario's most perfect campsite park, Caliper Lake, just a few miles up 71, they might not have run into Scarth Krohn.

All this brings up Zubro's addition of insult to the injuries that the Bush administration has done to US-Canadian relations. It certainly goes in the face of the popular belief that Canada is a country where everybody politely minds his own business and things run in an orderly fashion. I've had crisis situations with a suddenly ill parent in Victoria, an elderly friend who went "missing" in Stratford, and the challenges of shooting a documentary on the streets and in the nightclubs of wonderfully sexually promiscuous Windsor, and Canadian police have been understanding and helpful (and when issuing a speeding ticket in B.C.). The chief of police in Cathura, Ontario, is a stupid, self-serving, biggoted bully. But then, there actually isn't any such town, and if it's an hour west of Kenora, it would be in Manitoba, anyway. Zubro has created a fictional town and rearranged geography just a bit, so, for the sake of a good story, let him populate it with a few losers and undesirables. (I've tried to google his choice of "Cathura," come up with some vampire stuff that might make sense, but.. I can trace "significance" too far, my students used to protest.) He has an authentic "feel" for the pace of life in the Kenora region and the abrupt entrance into the wilderness that you make when you venture out of town, off the road, or to the otherside of the island ahead of you. The Canadian tourist office will just have to put up with the notion that evil people can happen, even in Canada.

And putting Paul Turner into a murder mystery in a foreign country, where his status as a US policeman is irrelevant, allows him the privilege of exercising his conscience when he discovers that it was Kevin who killed Scarth. Knowing that the local police cannot be trusted to recognize an obvious instance of self defense, Paul can trust his own moral judgment and place Kevin in the safe-keeping of Mrs. Talucci's brother and his life partner. The scene of Paul's rescue of the suicidal Kevin is emotionally charged for the reader, from the description of the physical action of pulling the boy out of the lake and giving CPR right down to the detail of the frightened and grief-stricken teenager drenching the shoulder of Paul's flannel shirt with "tears and snot." Having Paul perceive this detail and not give a damn about it is part of the compassion that Zubro instills in Paul's richly drawn character. The depiction of the elderly male partners/lovers who take Kevin into their establishment out beyond the reach of the corrupt police of Cathura has a "deus ex machina" feel to it, and their compound far across the lake reads like a "gay Mafia" setup, but their wealth appears to have come from their own years of strenuous and honest labor -- and I'm close to their age, live in semi-isolation on a lake in the forest, and wouldn't mind having a collection of well educated, efficient, handsome mid-twenties males at hand to keep danger at a distance (I don't think they'd need to be armed, and the pistols the Canadians pack are against the law). Actually, this discovery of the brother and his lifestyle is consistent with the outrageous role Mrs. Talucci has played in Paul Turner's family throughout this series of books. Turner intuitively turns to the elderly pair for help with Kevin, and by the end of the story other details have demonstrated to the reader that Kevin had no option other than to kill Scarth, that no one else will suffer because of Paul's coverup, and that Ontario officialdom may get things straightened out eventually in Cathura.

The two other reviewers I've read have slightly complained about Paul's preachments about matters of gay rights and gay safety. They're brief, and I believe they are justified. He's certainly not wrong in suggesting that a Matthew Shepard incident could have happened in the Cathura environment. What's wrong with a touch of relevance?

Paul Turner is an exemplary man, not without flaw, but consciously striving to live up to intelligently formulated standards in his roles as policeman, citizen, and father. Zubro is especially effective in dealing with Paul's behavior with his boys, one confined to a wheelchair, the other intelligently working to define himself on the brink of manhood. When Paul unexpectedly finds Brian at a campfire on the lakeshore, just at the outset of activities that will lead to sexual contact with the teenage fishing guide Kevin, Paul slips off into the dark in his rowboat, trusting his son and the Canadian boy -- and taking the reader as well as himself away from the boys' privacy. It is not until Brian brings the subject up himself that Paul reminds Brian that he had said he was "going to the movies." There's no recrimination, no arguing, no laying on of guilt. They have a very simple discussion of how and why the lovemaking happened, what it meant to each of the boys, and that it was "more friendly and very safe. I do actually listen to you." It's a wonderful scene, obviously offered by Zubro as proof that Paul Turner's parenting skills are successful.

At one point in the scene, Brian is concerned that "I've never known somebody who committed a murder. He was a friend. Is a friend." The shift in tense at the end is a significant display of Brian's maturity and loyalty, but I wish Turner had corrected the boy about the use of the word "murder." I would have had Turner interject, "There's a distinction betweeen 'murder' and 'self defense', Brian. We know beyond any doubt that what Kevin did was not 'murder'." That is, after all, what the moral center of the novel is all about.

Given Brian's state of mind at the end of the story, I wish that he had been given a final scene with Kevin, although I wouldn't have described it for the reader. Phil, the handsome pilot of the cigarette boat, should again appear unexpectedly at the Turner's dock on the final day, but without Mrs. Talucci. This frightens Turner (the old girl is past 90), but Phil explains that Mrs. Talucci believes that Kevin and Brian should have an opportunity to talk before the Turner family leaves Canada and has sent Phil to fetch him to her brother's compound. Turner says that he'll get the boy and Phil can take them back across the lake. Phil says, "Mrs. Talucci says Brian should come by himself." Although Zubro does not have Paul narrate these stories, they are told in a way that is limited to his point of view. I would have Brian come back later with Mrs. Talucci to begin the trip home, keeping whatever transpired in the conversation with Kevin to himself. Paul would be perplexed, but his (I think wonderful) parenting style would once again respect his son's privacy. The reader's imagination can be tested for a while, and the fact that such a conversation had happened would bring added significance to the conversation between Brian and Paul that ends the novel.

Something else I would like to find in the novel is more complete use of Ben as Paul's partner, something more than a "babysitter" for the boys when Paul must be elsewhere. In the other Zubro series, Tom and Scott function as companions in crime solving, but they're both amateurs, and in this series, Paul is the "pro" and has Fenwick as a partner. But couldn't Paul two/three times in a novel crawl in to Ben's arms, stew about a problem, and get an insight that is at least part of the key to solving the case?

Something outside the perameters of this novel -- What happens to Kevin? Brian wants to be sure to come back next year to see Kevin again, but I'd like to see how that handsome mid-twenties Phil, with whom Kevin very quickly turned to helping with maintenance of the cigarette boat upon their arrival at the "gay mafia" compound, takes on the responsibility of helping Kevin heal from not only the self-defense killing but also the years of Scarth's rapes. There's tremendous story-telling opportunity here (but, it's outside the perview of Zubro's mysteries) and in my fantasies is already connected to Brian's state of mind when he returns from the visit I want him to have with Kevin on the last day -- Brian knows and is completely relieved at just how safe his friend is over on that island.

To end this -- Paul's decision to involve his family and friends in withholding "evidence" (making them the jury and himself the judge) despite his professional committment to upholding law and legal procedures, plus the questions that might be raised about Brian's experimentation with sex and Kevin (which I have barely suggested), and the exercise of Paul Turner's compassionate, wise parenting skills -- come together to make "Hook, Line & Homicide" a much more complicated and rewarding reading experience than just yet another gay murder mystery. I hate the thought of "using" a good read to "teach" something, yet questions of "what defines gay?" "what defines murder, rape, bullying, bigotry, stupidity, responsibilityl, etc?" "what defines friendship?"
"what defines being a good parent?" so abound in this simple, straight forward story (but do not overburden it) that I wish I had a group of slightly confused teenagers to read it with, hash out its issues, and get us all back on track. But I'd settle for the (not armed) mid-twenties on the property seeing that things keep operating smoothly.

Chicago police detective Paul Turner rents two houseboats on Lake of the Woods, Canada for his annual fishing trip. Accompanying Paul are his sons teen Brian and preadolescent Jeff, his significant other Ben, his CPD partner Buck Fenwick and his wife and their children.

Paul breaks up a fight between the Krohn's gang and five First Nation Canadian Indian kids caused by the bullying tactics of the former. However when he reports that the Krohn crowd caused the incident as the Indians were minding their business to the police, they ignore him insisting that the First Nation people always cause trouble. Soon afterward the Krohn gang harasses the "fags" renting the houseboat. Not long after that someone murders Krohn. Police Chief Shreppel arrests a First Nation's teen without any evidence except prejudice and hatred. Putting aside their rods and reels, Paul and Buck investigate as they know the homophobic racist cops will not.

HOOK, LINE & HOMICIDE is an interesting whodunit as the Chicago cops are outside their jurisdiction investigating a homicide that the local Canadian police prefer their solution. The assault on gay rights by government and so called family value gurus is given a personalized face especially when Jeff personalizes the venom as he cannot understand why his father is hated due to sexual preference. Although at times Paul can pontificate on racism, sexual preference harassment slowing the sleuthing story line down, fans of the series will appreciate the latest caper north of the border.

Harriet Klausner

It's vacation time, and - as in past years - Chicago police detective Paul Turner is heading up to rural Canada to do some fishing, with his life partner, Ben, his two boys Brian and Jeff, along with his precinct partner Buck Fenwick, his wife and girls. Coming along this year are Ian, Turner's ex who is now a journalist, and Mrs. Talucci, an elderly but feisty neighbor whom the boys consider a surrogate grandmother.

They barely get a chance to get settled in their houseboats, and they find a dead body washing up on shore, whom they recognize as the leader of a group of local punks who harrassed them on their day of arrival. When Ian finds out that this is the sixth young man to die in so many years, he starts nosing around town to see if there is a story to be written, which arouses the suspicion of the local egotistical police chief. Turner and Fenwick start to do some investigating on their own, and discover this seemingly quiet town has its own surprising secrets, including police corruption, prostitution, racism, homophobia, drugs, and even a small-time gay porn producer, as well as a mysterious benefactor on a distant island with whom Mrs. Talucci spends her time.

As has been the case with his 19 previous mystery novels (11 in the "Tom & Scott" series, with this being the 9th of the "Paul Turner" series), Zubro spins a creative and realistic mystery yarn that immediately and skillfully engages the reader's interest and curiousity. His best quality is his knack for pacing, feeding the reader little tidbits at a time, and that is also evident here, although he occasionally gets a bit verbose in having Turner dwell on lectures about homophobia or racism. A minor fault, in my opinion, and I still give it five stars out of five.

Steven Jones loves his Aunt Carolyn. She travels all around the world and always send him postcards from the places that dhe travels. His aunt promises Steven that when he is old enough he can go on a trip with her. He can't wait for that day! His aunt is coming home for a visit and he wants to give her the perfect gift. He only has $10.00 and can't find anything good enough for her. He decides to redo an old toy train with pictures of his family as his gift. His aunt and the rest of the family love the "Jones Family Express"! At the end of her visit Aunt Carolyn gives Steven a postcard. The postacard is inviting him on a trip with her!


The illustrations are done is collage style. They are fun to look at and keep the reader interested in the story.


The book would make a great read aloud to children during a unit on trains, travel and family.

The Jones Family Express is a warm-hearted picture book written by Javaka Steptoe. His engaging text is uniquely brought to life with full-color illustrations of paper collages. In The Jones Family Express, Steven is a young African-American boy who is stumped trying to think of the perfect gift for his beloved, globe-traveling Aunt Carolyn during the annual block party. Steven learns that the best gifts of all come from the heart, in this emotional and highly recommended picture book story for young readers ages 4 to 9.

There aren't many picture books out there that contain illustrations where the main character and his brother are seen protecting their delicious pancake breakfasts from a voracious hungry uncle. "The Jones Family Express" is one of the few. Which is to say, it's the rare book that shows family relations in a realistic, yet affectionate, way. Javaka Steptoe has a style and voice that is uniquely his own. In this particular book, he creates a living breathing urban family environment, the like of which has not been seen since the heyday of those marvelous Ezra Jack Keats stories. Here we have a great story, in an innovative package.

Steven awaits, with baited breath, the postcards his world traveling aunt sends him whenever she goes away. For years he's lived through Aunt Carolyn's adventures second-hand, and at long long last she's coming to visit her favorite nephew and his family. That means it's time to party. While the rest of his family prepares for a delicious street barbecue, Steven frets over finding his aunt the perfect welcome-home gift. When at last he enlists the help of his money-happy Uncle Charles ("he wouldn't do anything unless you paid him") he finds a present that his aunt can truly love for all time. And in the end, Aunt Carolyn gives Steven the one thing he's always wanted.

I was pleased with the arc of the story, especially the wide range of characters brought to vivid life through Steptoe's descriptions. There's Steven's little cousin Sean who keeps him awake at night with questions like, "Why do dogs like dog biscuits?". There's Mr. Perkins, owner of Perkins Drugstore, with a voice like nails scratching on a chalkboard. And unlike some other kid-tries-to-find-the-perfect-present-for-their-beloved-relative/friend/idol, the gift that Steven actually comes up with is truly something that any adult belonging to a large family would love to own.

Steptoe's cut paper and mixed-media collage is the real star of this show, though. Cut paper, when done well, takes disparate elements and forces them to be complimentary to one another. In this particular case, Steptoe knows how to throw real photographs in with his drawn faces and cut out people, and meld them together with apparent ease. The people in this book grimace, smile, scowl, and sigh with delightful results. The whole reason to read the book, though, is centered on a magnificent two-page spread of Aunt Carolyn's hands holding her newly unwrapped present. If you read nothing else in this book, find that spread and tell me if it isn't fabulous (her hands are actual size, which makes the image particularly stunning).

Is it great? Yep. Should you give it to your children? Yep. Can I come up with a single reason why anyone wouldn't like it? I dunno. It's a little wordy for younger children. But for those kids who can sit through a well-told story and enjoy what it has to say, few things could go down sweeter than the pleasant, "Jones Family Express".

I used this with my Rough Guide italy, they certainly had different takes on various towns, sometimes this was more in line with my thinking. I was hoping to use this to find cheap hotels, since Rough Guide is weak on that. But the hotels were not as cheap as published, by the end of the trip I was using the tourist information booths with better results.

The Let's Go series is the best travel books on the market. If you are a younger person say 30 and under, this is the book for you. Woven throughout the book are helpful tips. Color Maps of various cities in the front of the book. I have been able to make sound decisions on where to stay, how to get around, and where to buy tickets/passes.

There is so much interesting detail about Italy in this book that can be found no where else. The information about lodgings, travel, food, etc is invaluable. The hotels are reasonable(I don't want to make a down payment, I just want to rent a clean room for a little sleep). It makes me want to take a trip there, and I plan to. I'm quite old but it makes me feel comfortable about going by myself.