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Herman Parish's Amelia Bedelia Road Trip is a funny holiday story for 6 year olds about a family who set off with no plan at all and get very, very lost.
It starts with good news. Dad's boss has given him a bonus week off, and he asks if they'd all like to go off and roam. Amelia Bedelia hears Rome. She's dancing round the living room and dreaming of pizza and pasta before anyone can stop her.
They're not going to Italy, of course. They're going to drive round their own state and see what turns up.
That's how these books work. Amelia Bedelia takes every word EXACTLY as it's said. Told to pack light, she packs her desk lamp. Asked for a checklist, she hands over a page covered in tick marks (she got bored, so she did them in different sizes and colours).
The trip itself goes wrong in the nicest way. They nearly run out of petrol before they've gone a mile. Then a coin toss sends them the wrong way down a dirt track.
A farmer tells them you can't get there from here. Her parents don't catch a word of his directions. Amelia Bedelia wrote every one down in her new journal, and she reads them out backwards to get them there!
From there it's a parade they drive into by accident, the loan of a cabin by a lake, and Audrey, the older girl next door who fishes. Amelia Bedelia falls in the lake almost as soon as they arrive. So she becomes Soaky, and Audrey (who never washes her lucky fishing shirt) becomes Stinky. And there's a big fishing contest coming up, with five hundred dollars for the biggest fish.
What's lovely is the family. Dad's jokes are terrible and Mum's comebacks are better. Nobody stays cross for long and there's a family hug when things go wrong. Amelia Bedelia also misses her dog, Finally, from the minute they leave her at the kennel. Plenty of children will know that feeling.
One small heads-up. Audrey's grandad, Doc, shows Amelia Bedelia how to clean the fish she's caught, scales, heads and insides and all, and she looks a bit queasy. If your reader is squeamish, you might like to know it's coming. For most it'll be one more gross bit to giggle at.
If they love a family holiday where everything goes slightly wrong, Amelia Bedelia Sets Sail packs her off to the beach with Mum, Dad and her cousin Jason, with boats, sailing lessons and a lot more puns.
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