Travels with My Family - by Marie-Louise Gay & David Homel (Paperback)

About the Book

Instead of dream vacations to Disney World and hotels with swimming pools and water slides, the parents in "Travels with My Family" insist on obscure destinations in the middle of nowhere. They're determined to go, even if it means hours of dull driving filled with countless back-seat, argument-inducing games of Twenty Questions and out-loud readings of the "How to Change a Tire" chapter from the owner's manual. But bad as the travel is, it's nothing compared to what happens when they arrive: eating grasshoppers in Mexico, forgetting the tide schedule while collecting sand dollars off the coast of Georgia, and mistaking alligators for logs in the middle of Okefenokee Swamp.
"Travels with My Family" is told from the point of view of a long-suffering big brother who must attend to many responsibilities in this eccentric family -- keep little brother out of trouble; humor artistic Mom while she seeks out beauty and inspiration in the least likely places; and discourage nearsighted, tone-deaf Dad from pulling out the road map to search for yet another strange destination.

Book Synopsis

Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel combine their writing and illustrating talents with their own family memories to produce a very unique travelogue.

Family vacations are supposed to be something to look forward to. Unless, that is, your parents have a habit of turning every outing into a risky proposition -- by accident, of course. So instead of dream vacations to Disney World and motels with swimming pools, these parents are always looking for that out-of-the-way destination where other tourists don't go. Their adventures involve eating grasshoppers in Mexico, forgetting the tide schedule while collecting sand dollars off the coast of Georgia, and mistaking alligators for logs in the middle of Okefenokee Swamp.

Travels with My Family is told from the point of view of a long-suffering big brother who must fulfill many roles in this eccentric family: keep little brother out of trouble, humor artist Mom, and discourage Dad from pulling out the road map to search for yet another off-the-beaten-track destination.

Husband-and-wife team Marie-Louise Gay and David Homel and have combined their prodigious writing and illustrating talents with their own family memories to produce a very different travelogue.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).

Review Quotes

...an amusing look at family life on the road...this story will entertain young armchair travelers. Recommended.-- "Library Media Connection"

...highly humorous chapter book...-- "Resource Links"

...it has the ring of truth for anyone who has ever been forced to spend long hours in the back seat of a car.-- "Los Angeles Times"

...sprinkled with humor, moments of discovery, and an appreciation for the beauty and diversity of less-lauded destinations....a good choice for those new to chapter books or for struggling readers.-- "School Library Journal"

...the prose is polished bright, clean, and supple so that it almost reads itself aloud.-- "Quill & Quire"

...[Gay's] and Homel's prose is conversational without being lax, lively without sliding into farce, and gently sardonic rather than the hard-edged, smart-aleck tone so familiar in contemporary middle-reader fiction told in the first person....each chapter makes a perfect read-aloud, perhaps even for the back seat of a car. Within each mini-travelogue, there's enough humour and mild excitement to hold attention, and the prose is polished bright, clean, and supple so that it almost reads itself aloud. An added attraction are the many black-and-white drawings by Gay in her characteristic style: big-headed children with minimal features and a loveable gangliness of limb; lively evocations of weather and landscape with a few quick lines; and a sense of energy, curiosity, and delight in the world.--Michele Landsberg "Quill & Quire"

Geographic and scientific tidbits are cleverly embedded in each story, often within some funny-in-retrospect detail that is part of a funny, well described larger picture. Readers won't even notice they're learning something...Homel and Gay should collaborate more often.-- "Books in Canada"

If you want a new read aloud and great incentive to get kids sharing their family vacation stories, here's the book for you.-- "Brandon Sun"

The family's episodic adventures, relayed by the older brother in a droll, first-person narrative, are often comical and sometimes suspenseful as they offer glimpses of natural wonders, extreme weather, and exotic locales.-- "Booklist"

These hilarious adventures sparkle...Marie-Louise Gay (with her co-writer and husband David Homel) gets the characters, their inner thoughts and outward dialogue, bang on.-- "Globe and Mail"

Written in the voice of a kid humouring his parents and plentifully illustrated with gay's pen-and-ink drawings...this may make those who aren't going on exotic holidays glad they get to stay home.-- "Toronto Star"