Wake up when you want to. Sleep when you feel like it. Spend time with cousins. Read. Watch. Play. Vacations are simply the best, aren’t they? One strong memory that I have of my vacations is an eight-year-old me telling my father that we must buy a caravan and visit places. I also said that if we liked our house on wheels, we could then probably make it our permanent home! Books influenced me. How about you?
ARE WE THERE YET?
Writer-Illustrator Dan Santat
Classic question. “Are we there yet?’ is something you never tire of asking on a road trip, do you? So a kid takes a road trip with his family, and boy, are road trips boring! So he begins to ask THE question. But guess what? Almost instantly they (boy along with family and car!) get transported to the prehistoric ages – and move along with pirates and princesses and dinosaurs and Pharaohs! Life isn’t boring now, certainly. There are several things that make this book special. The book can be turned upside down, it has QR codes set by a robot and, well, lot’s more...that you can find out on your own. It’s a picture book so the fun is in reading and re-rereading, and certainly taking with you on those ‘boring’ road trips!
EUROTRIP
Writer | Vibha Batra; Illustrator | Lavanya Karthik
A trip to Europe could be fun, right? With your parents and, er... a bunch of strangers? Well, Rohan has made peace with the strangers’ bit and is ready to take on a conducted tour of Europe. Besides all the ‘fun’, he is keen on winning the Photo Essay Contest his school has announced. He plans to be back with the best pictures ever of Europe. But life isn’t always as imagined. His precious camera goes missing and then begins an adventure you’d never imagined! Try to keep your wits about you and join Rohan on his EuroTrip .
THE CARAVAN FAMILY SERIES
Writer | Enid Blyton; Illustrators | William Fyffe and Ruth Gervis
Six books in this series, and each one full of fun and adventure. Three children — Mike, Belinda and Ann — are delighted when their father buys two caravans. The backstory is that they do not have a home to live in; everything is way too expensive, you see.
But for the kids, once they are on the caravan, troubled times are a thing of the past. They are the Caravan Family! Of course, their parents insist that this arrangement will work only for the vacation and when school begins, they will get a proper house.
Read the books and find out what happens actually. Wouldn’t you just love staying in a caravan?
WEREWOLVES DON’T GO TO SUMMER CAMP
(The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids #2)
Writers | Debbie Dadey and Marcia Thornton Jones; Illustrator | John Steven Gurney
Somehow summer holidays always translate into summer camp, don’t they? Like it or not, parents are bundling you off to these, right? Well, that’s the fate that awaits the Bailey School kids (Eddie, Howie, Lisa and Melody) too. WerewolvesDon’t Go To Summer Camp is the second in this series of books. The kids are sent off to a summer camp away from home eerily titled Camp Lone Wolf. The children suspect that Mr Jenkins, a camp counsellor, is a werewolf. He’s hairy, likes his meat raw and is super interested in werewolves! And then, a boy goes missing and there are stories of a wolf that prowls the camp grounds at night. Perfect for you!
PEANUT HAS A PLAN
Writer | Yashodhara Lal Sharma; Illustrator | Shreya Sen
Peanut has plans. But, Peanut’s plans are ever so crazy; they never really turn out the way they were planned. So Peanut’s mom puts her foot down and says, ‘No more plans!’ Well, when the vacation begins on that note, how much worse can things get, really? This Duckbill hOle book for early readers will tell you how vacations can be a good time to become responsible without taking the fun out of the holidays. Little Peanut wants to do something for her school project and comes up with plan after plan, each of which fails miserably, till the perfect one hits her. A fun book about what you can do too during your holidays — come up with a good plan.
PS : And what happened to my suggestion of buying a caravan? Well, my dad didn’t buy it. We continued to stay in a brick and mortar house. Still do.
But then again, someday, I might just...
