If you've seen the bust that Jim Paulsen sculpted for the back cover of Gary Paulsen's The Legend of Bass Reeves, you know Jim inherited some of his mother's (Ruth Wright Paulsen) artistic ability. I found this book to be all over the place, without any real direction. There are lots of issues in this book that could be hashed out in a longer text that has made up its mind about which one it wants to explore. But the repeated mentions of a crack house and the description of the girl's work uniform, among other things, make this book a big mismatch with its cover. Other issues: The cover looks like it will appeal to students as young as third grade, as will the topic of story and shortness of the book. The ending is even more of a let down than the rest of the story. The police officer lets Ben's dad drive his cruiser while the officer takes the wheel of the bus in a drag race. Yeah.Next up they come across a girl and guy having a spat. Not Ben's dad, they end up asking Gus to loan them his school bus, and then take Gus with them. At this point I would be looking for another mechanic to give my business to. Gus proceeds to go up one side of Ben's dad and back down the other for not taking care of his truck, and for basically being a moron about it. At the small garage they bring the truck to the trio meet Gus, the owner of the shop. Not too long after that the truck they are traveling in starts making funny noises.

On the way Ben decides to pick up his tough-guy high school friend to join them on the trip. Without talking it over with his wife he packs up his son and their older dog for the trip. Ben's dad decides that taking a two day road trip to get the puppy is just what he needs to keep his mind off things (a new real estate deal). however, I'm not a fan of whatever it was that this book was meant to be.īen's family is on the Border Collie rescue group's e-mail list, and are notified of a puppy new to a shelter. It's never good when a book review starts:

Road Trip by Gary Paulsen