Summary: Kate's letters to her best friend back home chart her family's trip through the South and back up through Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and reveal her true affection for the brother with whom she is always fighting.
Kates letters to her best friend back home chart her familys trip through the South and back up through Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and reveal her true affection for the brother with whom she is always fighting.
Kate's letters to her best friend back home chart her family's trip through the South and back up through Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and reveal her true affection for the brother with whom she is always fighting.
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Reviews provided by Syndetics
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3-- Kate's letters to her best friend Lucy chronicle her family's four-week trip by car from New Jersey to Florida and back, visiting 11 states on the trip. Kate tells about the sights they see and adds a few facts such as state birds and flowers for most places. She reports all of the annoying things that her little brother Brian does, but there is a real sense of caring between the two as well. Kate's last letter is to comfort Brian, who is staying behind in Pennsylvania with Aunt Mag for two weeks--Kate did so last year, and knows how homesick he will be. Kate's letters are convincingly childlike. She reports those things that would impress a child. Brown's illustrations complement the text well. They have a casual, vacation-snapshot feel, and although facial features are limited to dots and lines, emotions are clear. Your Best Friend, Kate will offer young children a good basis for comparing and contrasting with Vera B. Williams' Stringbean's Trip to the Shining Sea (Greenwillow, 1988) and Dayal Khalsa's My Family Vacation (Potter, 1988). Less of a tour de force than the former and less of a memoir than the latter, Brisson's story will be more familiar to most young readers. --Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, N.J. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Ages 5-8. Memorable times and family anecdotes are described with zip and verve by Kate in letters to her friend Lucy. With her parents and incorrigible younger brother, Brian, the family sets off on a four-week jaunt from New Jersey through the Middle Atlantic and southern states, circling back through Ohio and Pennsylvania. Interspersed with her childlike reactions to famous historic sites, cultural attractions, and unique outings (glass-bottom boats and alligators), Kate pens a running commentary on the antics of her sibling. Factual tidbits are so nonchalantly tucked in that Brisson's informal geography lesson is intriguing. Brown's cartoonish illustrations are a busy burst of color and activity, with each state's bird, tree, and flower noted. Endpapers include a map of the adventure. Language arts teachers will enjoy this as inspiration for real-life or fanciful vacation writing for their children. --Phillis Wilson
TextPublication details: New York : Bradbury Press, c1989.ISBN: