With summer trips and vacations (possibly) coming around the corner, what a perfect time to address this topic. I cannot say with gas prices being what they are and my husband being laid off recently, that we will be doing any road tripping anywhere but the grocery store and grandma’s house a short drive away. But, if you are planning to road trip and you have little ones, this might be quite a fun and appropriate book to read!

The Story

As you can probably figure out by the title alone, the bear family is going on a vacation! They are going to go on a car trip. Sister bear wanted to go to the “White Water Kingdom” because her friend Lizzy had been there and said it was awesome. Brother bear wanted to go to “Great Grizzlyland” because his cousin Fred had been there a couple of times and says the rides are the biggest, steepest, and fastest rides ever!

Papa bear explained to the children that they needed to get out to see bear country. They argued that they can see that any old time by just looking out the window. But, papa said there is a great deal more to see than just that and he was going to show them what was out there. He had a map and was plotting out their journey, invited the cub children up to look at the plans and they saw a big, boring map.

The littlest member of the family, baby Honey, was too little to go on the trip and was going to stay home because she could not appreciate everything that they were about to see! Sister and brother bear wanted to stay with her because baby sister is a lot of work and grandpa and grandma could not handle their little sister all by themselves!

But, that did not work with mama bear! The kids were coming with them on the road trip. Mama bear planned out a bunch of things to take to keep brother and sister bear occupied like crayons, board games and a book of mazes, but the kids decided that no matter what, they were going to be bore and not have any fun with anything mama bear brought! The bear cubs just keep looking forward and looking bored and they did not see the wonderful changes happening, bigger trees, changes in the sky color and the clouds. But, they did notice a huge roaring sound. They hear it from a distance and it started to get their attention. They started asking questions and wanted to know about the falls they were looking at and they were very happy to be there.

Next, they were traveling again and when they were pulling up to another stop, they noticed some bears shooting at one another. They were curious why they were fighting, but this was a group of re-enactors that were reenacting the Battle of Beadle Creek! It again prompted tons of questions about what they were doing, why they were doing it and how long ago it was when it originally happened.

They continued on their journey from here and went up over 7,610 feet into Great Grizzly Mountains something neither of the cubs had seen before and on the journey went. This is a nearly the last stop for the family and a really condensed version of everything that happens on long car trips, like bathroom stops and a whole slew of things. But, one thing did happen, the cubs realized what cool stuff they did see and did not remember the events that happened between the stops. It turned out better than I think they realized it would be!

Overall Impressions

This book has prompted my daughter to ask questions about the places we could go and she is repeatedly asking when we are going to go on a vacation. I think she has a bug to travel and see things different from the “normal stuff” around here. She wants adventure and fun and a vacation. As a matter of fact, today she woke up and told me that “I hate Mondays because it means I have to get up and start working all over again” before heading off to preschool! Boy, if she feels this way, I wonder what she’ll be like when school starts!

The vacations, the summer, the fun and the travels, boy those are good times, but when you are younger, the long drives really stink when you want to be at the swimming pool, playing in the parks and having a great time being off from school and the homework. This book does have a bingo board in it to take along on the drive. You just have to find the pictures as you are driving about and fold down or crease the pre-cut semi-circle to mark your space and keep going until someone gets bingo! That can be a bit of fun on the journey! Overall, though, I think little ones would get a bit bored looking and would rather play I spy or something similar!

~Thanks for spending time with me today!~


Recommended: Yes