From: Steven Engelfried <sengelfried>
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 11:36:05 -0700 (PDT)

I thought the journey south in "The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963" was very powerful. Though it's still full of funny family moments, this is where the novel gets a little more serious, as the excitement of a trip is tainted a bit by the apprehension of racism and danger as they got further south. The road trip in "Walk Two Moons" was excellent too. Besides the main purpose of the trip (for Sal to "see" her mother), she really needed to have that experience of traveling with her grandparents just as much. Finally someone mentioned "Taran Wanderer," which reminds me that so many of Lloyd Alexander's books involved physical trips that were also journeys of knowledge and self-discovery, including "The Akadians," "The Iron Ring," and "The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian."

Steven Engelfried Multnomah County Library 205 NE Russell Street Portland, OR 97212-3796 503-988-5206 stevene at yahoo.com
       
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Received on Thu 05 Jul 2007 01:36:05 PM CDT