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LaRue Across America, Review and Giveaway

April 18, 2011 by Jennifer Donovan

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

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I am so pleased today to be able to offer a review of a “dog on a road trip” book here in our weekly 5 Minutes for Books column along with some road trip goodies, including a $50 gas card to fuel your next trip:

LaRue Across America: Postcards From the Vacation by Mark Teague is one of those intellectually smart picture books for kids (which means that parents are pretty likely to find it amusing too).

Ike LaRue, the cute dog featured on the cover, is a little bummed about his summer vacation. He and Mrs. LaRue were about to depart for a cruise to Mexico when their neighbor Mrs. Hibbins collapses from the heat and ends up in the hospital. Mrs. LaRue volunteers to take care of her 2 cats, but that throws a wrench into their vacation plans, because the cruise ship doesn’t accept cats. Mrs. LaRue decides that all four of them will take a driving vacation instead.

Ike is not pleased with this change at all, and writes Mrs. Hibbins some postcards suggesting that she send bus fare so the cats can go home and the LaRues can still board their cruise. That’s not to be, but Ike continues to write postcards to Mrs. Hibbins about their cross-country journey, all the way from New York to California.

We’ve enjoyed taking road trips ourselves, and we know the truth that they are never without mishaps. Ike finds out the same thing about sharing a back seat with 2 cats, enduring an unplanned change in schedule, and car trouble. But in the end, it all works out for good.

Mark Teague’s LaRue Across America: Postcards From the Vacation would be a great way to relive your own road trip or prepare for one (or simply share a few laughs).

I have a great prize pack for TWO of you (U.S. residents only, please). Two of you will receive a copy of the book, a LaRue branded backpack, and a $50 gas card to fuel your own adventure!

Leave a comment if you’d like to win (perhaps sharing your biggest joy or trial on a road trip). We’ll announce the winners in this column on May 2.

  • The winners of the I, Spy Spectacular are #50 Christa Gregg, #58 Isabelle, and #1 Jawan.
  • The winner of the fabulous HOP movie prize pack is #70 melissa n.


Written by 5 Minutes for Books managing editor Jennifer Donovan, who also blogs at Snapshot. Keep up with all the bookish goodness (reviews and book giveaways) by subscribing to our feed.

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About Jennifer Donovan

Jennifer Donovan has been a part of the 5 Minutes for Mom team since 2007. She writes product reviews, covers events, and manages the 5 Minutes for Books weekly column and website. She lives in Houston and blogs at Snapshot about life with her family.

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41 Comments

  1. Angela W. says

    May 2, 2011 at 8:06 pm

    What a cute book! For the hubby, success on a roadtrip… beating the previous drive time record. For me, happy, entertained kiddos who also take LONG naps. That way we can really enjoy ourselves when we arrive at our destination.

    Reply
  2. Becky says

    April 30, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    Love Mark Teague. My dad was a teacher, so always had summers off and my mom worked part time as a nurse. My brothers and I loved traveling during the summer, we always went somewhere fun. My kids got an opportunity to travel with my family and also love traveling. Now they talk about having their own kids and taking “grandma” along!

    Reply
  3. Mia says

    April 30, 2011 at 1:42 am

    Thank God my son has my road trip gene!!!! He and I have traveled back and forth from Georgia & Pittsburgh ALONE several times! His 1st Road Trip was to Auburn Alabama….he turn ONE MONTH!!! I love ROAD TRIPPING WITH MY SON!!!! =)

    Reply
  4. Book4Learning says

    April 29, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    I am dying to get my hands on this book! We are bigs fans of this series

    Reply
  5. domestic diva says

    April 28, 2011 at 5:05 pm

    Sounds great! Thanks for the chance.

    Reply
  6. Linda Meyers-Gabbard says

    April 28, 2011 at 8:46 am

    This looks like a great book for the kids. We have 2 dogs and 5 cats. We love our pets.

    Reply
  7. Jenn says

    April 28, 2011 at 8:36 am

    This looks like a really fun book! I love taking road trips and hope that my children learn to love them too. The worst road trip we ever took was when I was a young teenager – I ate something that gave me severe indigestion, then my mother made me take Pepto-Bismal which made it even worse and I spent a few hours puking while we drove down the road. Fortunately most of my road trips have been much better than that one was!

    Reply
  8. Gail says

    April 26, 2011 at 12:14 pm

    We took quite a few “see America” vacations with our 4 kids, some of our fondest memories! The hard part when we were gone for several weeks was washing clothes along the way for 6 people. Fun times!

    Reply
  9. Simone says

    April 25, 2011 at 7:48 pm

    I have read the other LaRue books – this one sounds great. Road trips are always an adventure with my family.

    Reply
  10. Brianna Beers says

    April 24, 2011 at 11:33 pm

    Im am so in love with road trips, I would love to read this book! This would be the perfect opportunity to plan one too. Hey it would be awesome to read this book ON a roadtrip too!! Thankyou for another great giveaway!
    briannabeers at yahoo dot com

    Reply
  11. Megan Earley says

    April 23, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    My favorite memories from road trips as a kid were singing songs with my sister and playing the alphabet game.
    mearley1979 at gmail dot com

    Reply
  12. Beth says

    April 23, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    The best part about road trips is it usually means seeing family when we are done. Always great to see loving faces and get time with them. Thanks for the fun, love Mark Teague’s other books 🙂

    Reply
  13. jacquelyn says

    April 21, 2011 at 1:33 am

    We drive back to my husband’s families farm every summer with our two toddlers. Last summer we were arriving at the farm late one night and my two year daughter woke up in her car seat and looked out her window to see the moon. She said in the most sweet voice… “Hello Man in the Moon”. I will always remember that moment.

    Reply
  14. Janet says

    April 20, 2011 at 6:47 am

    This book looks oh so cute! Thank you for the opportunity to win a copy 🙂

    Reply
  15. Joliene D. says

    April 20, 2011 at 12:45 am

    The best trip I remember is seeing Vegas for the first time (I’m from New Zealand) and it was driving through on my way to Utah, with my husband, who was my fiance at the time. It was so bright, and even the McDonalds had a neon sign! My favorite part was my husband taking me to the Bellagio, & watching the fountain there. So memorable, so fun!

    Reply
  16. Casey says

    April 19, 2011 at 10:14 pm

    I would love to share this book with my daughter. It reminds me of the days when I would drive from grad school to home with my cat in the car. My choices were the constant yowling when in a box or letting him free in the car. While completely unsafe, but good for my sanity, he roamed in the car. He used to sleep around my neck so by the time I got home, I went from sitting up to practically eating the steering wheel. 🙂

    Reply
  17. Alison S. says

    April 19, 2011 at 5:10 pm

    My husband and I love to travel. Now that we have a 2 year old and another on the way we didn’t know if road trips were something we could do. This past weekend we had to drive 11 hours each way and our son did great. So more road trips to come! Yay!

    Reply
  18. Drew Stevenson says

    April 19, 2011 at 1:58 pm

    My trial is hearing are we there yet over and over again!

    Reply
  19. Idaho Jill says

    April 19, 2011 at 10:33 am

    My daughter would love this book – it looks so cute and fun! We drive to oregon every summer…it was easier when she was a baby since she slept more. She just turned 4 though, so it’s going to be a bit more challenging this year!

    Reply
  20. Vilmarys says

    April 19, 2011 at 9:11 am

    I would love to win this book! I’m from Mass so instead of the entire family boarding an airplane to Florida, we drive instead. Nothing is better than being with family on a road trip. We get on each other’s nerves but that’s the fun part. But nothing compares to the excitement we all get when we finally hit the Florida border!

    Reply
  21. Jaimie K says

    April 19, 2011 at 9:05 am

    How fun! I’d love to have this book! And the gas card, I won’t lie. 🙂
    We don’t take many road trips but love to visit family when we do. One horrific traveling experience recalled was a couple Christmases ago, driving through a white out blizzard, spinning sideways twice. It was the worst ever and I’m terrified of winter road trips now.

    Reply
  22. Kathy Stevenson says

    April 19, 2011 at 8:55 am

    My biggest joy was how much fun my girls had together on a drive from IL to CA. They had so much fun playing and watching movies in the car!

    Reply
  23. Krista says

    April 19, 2011 at 1:33 am

    When I was 16 we road tripped from Washington to Ohio and back to visit my grandparents. On the first night out my mom got some stuff in her eye so she couldn’t drive at all. Good thing they’d finally let me get my driver’s license at 16 1/2 so I could be my dad’s relief driver! The thing is I really remember the scenery much more from when I was driving than any other time because otherwise I had my nose in a book! 🙂

    Reply
  24. Linda Henderson says

    April 18, 2011 at 10:28 pm

    My grandkids would love this book. The last fun trip we took was to Branson Missouri with the grandkids and they rode the rides and had a great time. One of my grandsons is autistic so there are some rides he won’t do, but he still had a great time.

    seriousreader at live dot com

    Reply
  25. Barbara Manatee says

    April 18, 2011 at 10:05 pm

    We took a road trip last summer. Our kids were 3, 3, and 1. We were in a very hilly area and we pretended we were on a roller coaster and put our arms up and down as we went over each hill. Even our lil 1 year old got into the fun! great memory!!

    *****
    April is Autism Awareness Month. I’m dedicating my blog all month long to Autism.

    Reply
  26. Megan says

    April 18, 2011 at 7:16 pm

    We love LaRue books. They are so cute and we always just giggle. Road trips haven’t been fun or exciting (yet), but they are always certainly full of whines! Haha.

    Reply
  27. MJ says

    April 18, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    My kinderkids LOVE LaRue!!!
    Hubby and I both teach so every summer was spent at the beach!! We would have sing-a-longs and our version of Name That Tune!! Great times!!

    Reply
  28. jenna says

    April 18, 2011 at 6:20 pm

    Biggest joy on a road trip? Having all 3 kids sleep for a 3 hour stretch while the hubs and I talked. All was right with the world. We hardly noticed that we were almost home, until the kids woke up happy. 🙂

    Reply
  29. angie says

    April 18, 2011 at 6:06 pm

    we broke down on the highway when we were on a road trip as siblings in the end we bonded made new friends
    [email protected]

    Reply
  30. Joanna says

    April 18, 2011 at 5:36 pm

    We love driving back to MN every summer to visit Grandma & Grandpa!

    Reply
  31. anne says

    April 18, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    What a lovely prize. A road trip that was interesting and long was summer move from the North to the Southwest. A great change of climate, topography and scenic vistas.

    Reply
  32. Ruthie B says

    April 18, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    Oh so cute! Our family will be driving to Miami to board a cruise in June & this would be perfect for my 5 year old grandson!
    Our favorite reply when constantly asked ‘Are we there yet?’ is ‘About 20 more minutes!’ no matter how far we are! lol!
    Thanks for the chance!

    Reply
  33. Carol M says

    April 18, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    This would be great for my youngest grandsons. My daughter and her family are planning on driving to several places this summer.

    Reply
  34. Patty says

    April 18, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    I heart dogs and travel! Would love to win this book to share with all the kids in my family.

    Reply
  35. riTa says

    April 18, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    What a wonderful giveaway, and in time for summer travels!
    Memories come back of squeezing too many bodies and their ‘necessary’ stuff into tight spaces and oft repeated “Are we there yet?”

    Reply
  36. Kristie says

    April 18, 2011 at 9:34 am

    What a cute and fun book! My kiddos would really enjoy this, especially remembering the week-long road trip we took last summer! 🙂

    Reply
  37. Audrey says

    April 18, 2011 at 9:00 am

    That sounds like a wonderful road trip book to read to my son when we go on our next road trip! We go on one every year. Last year it was a three week long camping road trip that took us over 6000 miles to complete. This year we’re not going quite so far, a quick 12 hour road trip to the east coast where we’ll spend 2 weeks exploring beaches and ponds and visiting with family. I’m not sure which I enjoy more…the long adventures that take us through desert, blizzard, prairie and wooded mountain (and last year we pitched our tent on lava rock and went cave exploring!) or the relaxing lazy two weeks.

    Reply
  38. Christine says

    April 18, 2011 at 8:49 am

    Would love to win. Looks fun!

    Reply
  39. HappyMomC says

    April 18, 2011 at 8:26 am

    Would love to win this book. Our greatest joy on a road trip is being able to connect with everyone, singing, telling stories/jokes…just talking. Everyone has to be together…so it is perfect family time! 🙂

    Reply
  40. Sandra K321 says

    April 18, 2011 at 7:17 am

    This sounds like a cute book. We didn’t take too many long driving trips with my two boys, just one to Virginia. But the trips don’t have to be long to require creative ways to keep them amused. The car we used for the trips was big so they each had a lot of space. Thank goodness for handheld video games!

    Reply
  41. Tina says

    April 18, 2011 at 12:20 am

    How exciting! My grandchildren would love this book!
    We use to travel a lot when our children were younger. We had seven children with us one summer when we stopped in Tennessee at a truck/gift shop for a potty break. I had taken the girls in the bathroom and thought they all came out before me. We were all loaded in the car and about to get back on interstate when my son noticed our daughter was missing. When we went back to get her, she was just coming out of the bathroom and never knew we left her until my son told her. She cried about it for our entire vacation and told everyone we came in contact with!

    Reply

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