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Karina Yan Glaser's The Vanderbeekers on the Road is a big, noisy family story for 10 year olds about a surprise road trip right across America.
This is the sixth Vanderbeekers book. Papa is stuck in Indiana after a tornado cancels his flight home, and he's going to miss his own fortieth birthday. So the rest of the family borrow a van and go to fetch him.
It isn't just a pick-up. They've found a road trip their grandfather planned for Papa years ago and never got to take, all the way to California. Now they're going to do it for him, as a present.
Packed into that van are Mama, the five children, their neighbours Mr Beiderman and Orlando, a drooling basset hound and three cats. What could go wrong?
Quite a lot, as it turns out. The first campsite is grim. Nobody can put the tent up, the wind blows it into a mosquito puddle called a lake, and then it pours. In the morning a raccoon called Rocco has stolen four pairs of shoes and dropped them in the water.
It's very funny, and very true to what family trips actually feel like. Mr B complains about his lumbar spine. Oliver is hungry after forty-one minutes. Laney keeps sneaking books out and having them confiscated, because reading in the car makes her sick (so relatable).
Every child gets their own moments. Isa plays her violin in a Target car park and strangers clap. Hyacinth writes a little poem about spending ninety minutes in Kentucky. And they ALL think Target is the best place on earth!
Underneath the chaos there's a bigger worry. Laney overhears Jessie and Orlando talking about a science scholarship in California, and she can't imagine her big sisters ever leaving home. Anyone with a younger sibling who hero-worships the older ones will feel that one.
It's worth knowing that Papa's dad died before the trip was ever taken, so there's a gentle sadness running through the whole plan. It's backstory, and it's handled lovingly.
If you've got a reader who likes a big family and plenty of ordinary disasters, they'll probably adore it. It's easy to follow even if this is their first time with the Vanderbeekers.
If they want more, the earliest Vanderbeekers book in the library is Lost and Found. There's somebody sleeping in the tool shed of the community garden, and the children are determined to help.
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