Are We There Yet?
Are We There Yet?
By Dan Santat
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Curriculum Subject: Adventure: Science Fiction, Family Life: Transportation and Travel
Grades: PreK-1
[button link=”https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/PR4590_Are_We_There_Yet_3p.pdf”]Road Trip Activity Kit[/button]
“Are we there yet?”
Every parent has heard this classic kid question on a long car ride—and after reading this astonishingly inventive new book (that even turns upside down for several pages!), you’ll never look at being bored the same way again.
Let’s face it: everyone knows that car rides can be boring. And when things get boring, time slows down. In this book, a boy feels time slowing down so much that it starts going backward—into the time of pirates! Of princesses! Of dinosaurs! The boy was just trying to get to his grandmother’s birthday party, but instead he’s traveling through Ancient Egypt and rubbing shoulders with Ben Franklin. When time flies, who knows where—or when—he’ll end up.
PRAISE
★ “A car trip to visit Grandma on her birthday feels like “an eternity.” What happens when you just get too bored? Most parents on a car trip have heard the titular question, but in Caldecott medalist Santat’s hands, the familiar trip becomes an unforgettable romp through time and space… Employing both comic-book-style panels and full-bleed spreads, the mixed-media illustrations are full of humor, and the changes in point of view keep the telling dynamic and engaging… A multilayered, modern-day parable reminding readers there’s no greater gift than the present. ” — Kirkus
★ “’Be patient,’ writes Caldecott Medalist Santat (The Adventures of Beekle), dedicating the book to his son. ‘We have all the time in the world.’ His own patience is what harnesses the energy of his riotous story and gives it a laser focus. It’s a remarkable feat—a turbocharged adventure that’s also a meditation on the relative nature of time.” — Publishers Weekly
★ “Let the interactive reading begin! The words begin to spiral around a spread featuring the boy’s glazed expression, forcing the book to be rotated and read upside down. Suddenly the slow-moving time transports the car back in history, placing it alongside a steam locomotive, a pirate ship, a jousting knight, and the newly build Sphinx in Cairo… The gambit to get kids involved in the story works, and Santat’s rich illustrations—ranging from double-page spreads to comic-style panels—carry it home.” — School Library Journal