A delightful trip with the whole bunch. ( )

I think was def a unique read in this series. I liked the new setting and enjoyed it but also missed the NYC setting. I also liked how found family elements were very presdent in this one. I also really liked the road trip elements in this read!! I don't think was new favorite but it was a very heartwaring read for sure! ( )

I think was def a unique read in this series. I liked the new setting and enjoyed it but also missed the NYC setting. I also liked how found family elements were very presdent in this one. I also really liked the road trip elements in this read!! I don't think was new favorite but it was a very heartwaring read for sure! ( )

I loved seeing New Yorker Vanderbeekers on the road, traveling across the U.S., making new friends and working together as a family to get to California and back!

What I DIDN'T love was usually loveable youngest child Laney being so whiny and utterly conniving!
Usually her schemes are sweet, but this one had me shocked. And I couldn't understand why oh why at least Oliver (isn't he close to 12/13 in this one) didn't have more sense!

Anyway, everything works out on the end (sort of) and I sincerely hope there is a #7 and beyond in this series! I want them to continue until Laney is off to college:-) ( )

I read a borrowed Kindle edition via Libby at my public library. I’d also borrowed the audiobook to read simultaneously with the e-book but within a page I realized that I intensely disliked the narrator and would prefer my own interpretation so I read just the e-book. I’d been waiting for a hardcover edition but the queue was too long and I didn’t want to wait any longer to read this book than I already had.

Clever! Charming! Heartwarming!

I was giggling within pages. A part at the beginning and a part toward the end were particularly amusing.

I loved how Mr. B. and Orlando joined the family. I also loved seeing Aunt Penny.

I enjoyed some of the people they met along the way. In a way it was nice to have a change of pace and travel after five books set mostly in NYC but I know of missed the old neighborhood & the house and the neighbors. I think the cross country trip would have been a more enjoyable reading experience if the Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon and other locations had been described through the eyes of the characters or at all. Nothing to very little was written about the famous destinations and I did not get a good sense of any of them and no sense of the Grand Canyon, for instance. Not giving more details of the places visited was a missed opportunity.

I know that it was done out of a kind of love but what Laney and the other two younger kids did to two of the older ones really bothered me. I thought it would turn out okay anyway but while their reasoning fit their personalities their actions did not. It added a bit of excitement to the story but I could have done without it. It didn’t pan out exactly at I thought it would but it did turn out to be a kind-hearted resolution. The other storylines also were warm-hearted. This family and those they surround themselves with are wonderful.

I do appreciate that the kids seem real and they’re really good kids but they have flaws and weaknesses as well as strengths and virtues.

Their van’s name is great! I’m not big on naming inanimate objects including cars/vehicles (except for boats & ships) but I did love this van’s name.

The illustrations are wonderful and this book seemed to have more and more detailed ones than the previous five books. The only thing that was weird about them was the frequently appearing van was shown completely empty with no luggage and no animals and no people. One drawing of it would have sufficed.

“Wasn’t it funny how you could feel so drawn to home and still feel an urge to explore the whole world?”

I’m excited that there will be a book 7 coming out next year. I’m looking forward to reading it. These are great comfort reads. This sixth book was my least favorite Vanderbeekers story but I still really liked it.

The Vanderbeekers books are great for independent middle school readers and for reading aloud one to one and for families and for classrooms. Also recommended for readers who enjoy stories about large families and who love animals. ( )