This summer we’re reading our way across Canada, book by book! You can follow our adventures on the Road Trip Reading Club Website all summer! As we get ready to read east-coast to west-coast, there’s no better way to prepare than with more reading: here are books about road trips by Canadian creators, a perfect start to summer.
Picture Books
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Carson Crosses Canada Annie and her dog Carson, who live in Tofino, British Columbia, are setting out to visit her sister in Newfoundland. They travel in Annie’s rattlebang car, province by province, taking in each unique landscape and experiencing something special in each particular region, before finally arriving in Witless Bay. There they are greeted by Elsie — with a special surprise for Carson! |
Where Are You, Bear? Canada is a big country to travel across without your favorite bear by your side — but that’s just what 4-year-old Sophie has to do! Unable to find Bear as her family prepares to leave St. John’s to visit her grandmother on Vancouver Island, Sophie must brave the country herself. But when misplaced Bear realizes what’s happened, he sets off on his own adventure — chasing after Sophie. What follows is a madcap ABC journey across Canada that takes the two separated pals through all 13 provinces and territories. |
Junior & Intermediate Fiction |
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The Summer We Saved the Bees Wolf’s mother is obsessed with saving the world’s honeybees. He gets that. But it’s another thing altogether when she announces that she’s taking her Save the Bees show on the road — family style, complete with mortifying bee costumes. Can Wolf and his sisters convince her that dragging the family around in a beat-up panel van may not be the best idea she’s ever had? |
The Road to Ever After Davy, a 13-year-old orphan, ekes out a living in the dead-end town of Brownvale, finding solace in the library and movie theatre. His secret is his art — angels drawn in the dirt with homemade brushes. Circumstances lead Davy into the life of Miss Flint, an elderly recluse with one last road trip planned, and he finds himself driving her. An extraordinary adventure awaits them both. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
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Young Adult Fiction |
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16 Things I Thought Were True When Morgan’s mom gets sick, it’s hard not to panic. Without her mother, she would have no one—until she finds out the dad who walked out on her as a baby isn’t as far away as she thought… Now that they have a summer job together, Morgan’s getting to know the real Adam, and he’s actually pretty sweet…in a nerdy-hot kind of way. He even offers to go with her to find her dad. Road trip, anyone? |
Are You Seeing Me? Twins Justine and Perry have left Australia and embarked on a road trip in the Pacific Northwest. When their dad died, Justine became caregiver for her autistic brother, who has now been accepted into a group home. Before he moves in, the twins want to create the perfect memory. For Perry, the trip is a celebration; for Justine, it’s an opportunity to learn how to let go. |
Hit the Ground Running Sixteen-year-old Dee and her seven-year-old brother, Eddie, have been on their own for six weeks. Their father has seemingly vanished into the baking Arizona desert. Their money is drying up and the rent is coming due, but it’s a visit from a social worker and the prospect of being separated from Eddie that scares Dee enough to flee. She dupes her brother into packing up and embarking on the long road trip to Canada, their birthplace and former home. Lacking a driver’s license and facing a looming interrogation at the border, Dee rations their money and food as they burn down the interstate in their ancient, decrepit car. Amazon | Indigo | Canadian Bookstores | Wholesalers
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Road Signs That Say West It’s Hanna’s wild idea, of course: take their mom’s car, pack up the tent, and drive across the country. Just three sisters, one guitar, and the Trans Canada Highway. They can be back in Nova Scotia before their parents are home from Europe. She doesn’t say she wants to forget about what happened in Italy. Her youngest sister doesn’t say she keeps having nightmares about her friend’s recent suicide. Their middle sister doesn’t say much, unless it’s a complaint. But maybe they all feel, somehow, that this is their one chance to do something together, something big, before time begins to scatter them. |