This early chapter book is a road-trip adventure with heart and some important life lessons. Eight-year-old Jolene is going on a trip with her dad in his 18-wheeler, driving from Quebec to Los Angeles. She loves their trips together—they tell stories, play music, and rate food along the way. (This year, their focus is on onion rings.)
Jolene is also getting settled after big changes in her family life; her dad and mom divorced a year ago because her dad fell in love with a man and came out as gay. The divorce was amicable, and Jolene’s mom even says, “I’ll be happy for him, too, once I get past being sad for me”—a nice way of balancing a positive stance on being gay with realistic feelings of loss. In a later scene, the mom assures Jolene that “everything is going to be fine,” which helps lift Jolene’s spirits, too. Jolene splits her time between her mom’s house and that of her dad and his boyfriend Joey. Joey is Coast Salish, an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest. Jolene’s Dad is White, her Mom Black, and she appears biracial.
On the road trip, Jolene and her dad talk, play music, and rate onion rings at stops along the way. When a rock slide across the highway injures a mother and son in another car, Jolene’s dad stops to help, while Jolene calls 911. While waiting for emergency workers to arrive, however, Jolene chats with the woman and mentions that her dad’s boyfriend doesn’t like to travel in the truck like Jolene does. The woman, whose character is indicated by a harsh comment to her son, responds, “Your dad has a boyfriend? That’s disgusting. A sin.” This is Jolene’s first exposure to homophobia and it disturbs her deeply.
Her dad hadn’t heard the conversation, however, and suggests they bring flowers to the woman, now in the hospital. As they enter the building, Jolene tells her dad what happened. In an admirable gesture, he still wants to bring the woman flowers, explaining, “We’re not saying we agree with her. We’re just showing her some human kindness.” He also tries to answer Jolene’s questions about why people can act rude and mean, saying that they may have been raised to believe certain things, or are frightened, or “have been hurt and haven’t healed, so they’re angry,” or “have never been loved themselves.” Sometimes, however, people who haven’t been loved may become more loving, he adds, with a note of hope. When they leave the flowers, the woman is again rude, but her son whispers an apology for her behavior, proof of the dad’s last point.
Jolene and her dad reach Los Angeles, unload, and load up with different cargo to head back north. The last few scenes are of sweet father-daughter time. Readers will enjoy this early chapter book’s descriptions of truck stops and life on the road and in the camper-like cab of the truck, a glimpse at a world that few children experience but many may wonder about. Author Sara Cassidy’s pointed but age-appropriate exploration of homophobia offers an important lesson about kindness and taking the high road (so to speak). Back matter includes two story-relevant recipes. While this is a chapter book, not a picture book, it is illustrated, with charming black-and-white drawings by Charlene Chua.
