On the Road Again

By David Homel and Marie-Louise Gay

Book Overview

Charlie and his family are taking another trip -- this time to spend a year in a tiny village in southern France. Typically suspicious and resentful at first (they're going all the way to France, and they're not even going to be living in Paris ), big brother Charlie soon finds himself drawn into life in sleepy Celeriac. The family experiences the spring migration of sheep up to the mountain pastures, Dad is threatened by a raging bull, a spring flood makes a mess, and everyone forages for snails and mushrooms and has other adventures large and small. Most of all, though, Charlie and his little brother, Max, make friends of their eccentric new neighbors -- the man who steals ducks from the local river, the neighbor's dog who sleeps in the middle of the street, and their new pals Rachid and Ahmed, who teach them how to play soccer using the open front door of the Catholic church as the goal It's enough to make Charlie wonder if it's really so important to get to Paris. On the Road Again's mix of rollicking humor, comic characters, and universal concerns like making new friends and living in a new place are a welcome addition for Gay's many fans.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0888998465
• ISBN13: 9780888998460
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Groundwood Books
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.5" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 7 to 10 years
• Grade Range: Grades 2 to 5

Customer Reviews

Hysterical!

After reading Travels with My Family, my 7 year old insisted we search for a sequel. Fortunately, there was one. In this book, the family (author father, illustrator mother and 2 boys) goes to live in a small town in southern France for a year. True to their off-the-beaten track mentality, the parents pick a tiny town, where the family lives in an old farmhouse on a street wide enough for one narrow car, so long as the local dog (referred to as a snoring speed bump) deigns to move out of the way. Each chapter is a humorous and authentic view into French village life. For those who have lived in France, the stories carry a special humour.