Deborah Hopkinson

Acclaimed author Gary Paulsen has often written about dogs, and is known as an enthusiastic fan of canines. He clearly passed this love on to his son, Jim, co-author of Road Trip, the quirky, fast-paced story of a father and son on a quest to rescue a young border collie.

As Gary Paulsen explains in his author’s note, he and Jim hadn’t actually set out purposefully to write a book together. Instead the project grew naturally and organically, with each sharing chapters over email. Notes the Newbery award-winning author: “Maybe it’s because we both love dogs that we could work together like this. . . . Jim and I lost track when we tried to count how many dogs we’ve owned over the years. But we’ve never lost sight of how much they added to our lives.”

Road Trip begins, appropriately, at the beginning of summer vacation. Fourteen-year-old Ben isn’t surprised at the sudden summons to hop in the truck and travel light. He’s used to tagging along with his dad’s spur-of-the moment adventures. And so is Atticus, the current (and sole) family Border collie. Atticus, who sometimes seems to know more than his humans, provides some of the book’s funniest passages. Atticus is not entirely keen on the quest to get another dog. “Getting a dog is a terrible idea,” he states. “Dogs are not my favorite thing. Dogs are messy and needy.”

Like all good road trips, this story contains adventure, danger, surprises, unexpected twists and turns, and a bevy of eccentric characters. And why not? From On the Road to Little Miss Sunshine, road trips are in our collective blood. Young readers could not begin with better guides than Gary and Jim Paulsen.

Newbery-winning novelist Karen Cushman introduces her first male leading character in Will Sparrow’s Road, an engaging historical fiction adventure set in 1599, in Elizabethan England.

By all accounts, including his own, young Will Sparrow is a liar, a thief and a runaway. Will lives the only way he can—by his wits. It’s no wonder his motto has become: “I care for no one but myself . . . and nothing but my belly.”

Will’s father has sold him to an innkeeper in exchange for ale. But when the innkeeper threatens to sell Will off as a chimney sweep as a penalty for stealing a cold rabbit pie, Will knows the time has come to make his own way in the world. Along the way, he meets up with a troupe of “oddities and prodigies” who travel from fair to fair.

Cushman deftly weaves in Will’s adventures with fascinating details about Renaissance fairs of the time, which served as temporary markets for the sale of livestock, food and goods: “saddles and baskets and woolen cloth . . . candlesticks of pewter and brass, heaps of apple tarts, creamy cheeses, and plums.” Some young readers will recognize elements of the “Saturday markets” we have in cities and towns today, which combine farmers’ markets with hand-made goods and entertainment.

But readers will be less familiar with the odd members of Thomas Tidball’s band, which include a learned pig named Duchess, a wild cat-girl, a little man named Lancelot Fitzgeoffrey—and, eventually, Will himself. In this harsh world, where nothing is quite as it seems, Will must learn to sort friend from foe, and hope that, in the end, he can find a place to call home. Cushman’s lively account of his journey makes it a pleasure to follow along.

Colorado anthropologist Jeannie Mobley shines a light on her native state in Katerina’s Wish, her debut novel about an immigrant Bohemian family in a Southern Colorado mining town at the turn of the 20th century. Katerina and her two younger sisters already know the drudgery of daily life as they help their mother with seemingly endless loads of laundry to supplement Papa’s wages in the mines. At the rate they are able to save, Katerina despairs that the family’s dream of having a farm of their own—a dream that brought them so far from home—will ever be a reality.

Katerina, who is almost 14, decides to take matters into her own hands. Her sisters may believe that wishes are granted by a magic fish in a nearby pool, but Katerina knows better. An entrepreneur at heart, she finds a way to grow cucumbers, raise chickens and circumvent the high prices of the only store in town to save money.

Then comes the day of the explosion in the mine. During tense days of waiting for news of the trapped miners, Katerina proves to her mother that she is growing up. It is not only Papa who is missing, but their best friends, Old Jan’s sons, Karel and Mark.

Just as Aaron Hawkins does in his delightful historical novel, The Year Money Grew on Trees, Mobley provides engaging details of Katerina’s creative exploits into gardening and running her own business. It’s also fascinating to see the relationship among the different immigrant groups in the town, and how Katerina finds a way to bring them all together.

Young readers, accustomed to heading out to the store or mall to get new “store bought” clothes at the start of the school year, might be surprised to learn just how hard Katerina and her sisters must work to buy cloth to make a dress. No lecture required: just hand them this thoroughly engaging story.

Emily and Jackson are back.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Newbery Medal-winning author of Shiloh and more than 100 other titles, introduced Emily Wiggins and her scrappy companion, Jackson, in Emily’s Fortune. In their first rip-roaring Western adventure, the two young orphans escaped the clutches of Emily’s evil uncle to make their way to kind Aunt Hilda in Redbud.

Emily and Jackson Hiding Out finds the friends eagerly embracing life on the farm with Aunt Hilda. But their troubles aren’t quite over. One day, while Aunt Hilda is in town, Emily and Jackson find a pathetic widow woman begging on the road. Ever mindful of Aunt Hilda’s edict to practice kindness, they offer to make her lunch. But when the widow woman is washing up, Jackson catches sight of something that makes his eyes grow wide. “What in shootin’ shivers did he see?”

A tiger tattoo! The widow is no other than Emily’s evil Uncle Victor—who has hatched a nefarious kidnapping plot. There’s a bold rescue attempt and a nerve-racking finale before the bad guy is rounded up and order is restored once again.

Naylor’s latest will capture young readers with cliff-hanging chapter endings, humorous illustrations and a fun, old West design. The future looks bright for Emily and Jackson, but, then again, you never know: “Who in rushin’ rapids knows what might happen next?”