Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat--creator of The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend and After the Fall --takes readers on the road trip of a lifetime!

"Are we there yet?" Every parent has heard this classic kid question on a long car ride--and after reading this astonishingly inventive new book (that even turns upside down for several pages!), you'll never look at being bored the same way again.

Let's face it: everyone knows that car rides can be boring. And when things get boring, time slows down. In this book, a boy feels time slowing down so much that it starts going backward --into the time of pirates! Of princesses! Of dinosaurs! The boy was just trying to get to his grandmother's birthday party, but instead he's traveling through Ancient Egypt and rubbing shoulders with Ben Franklin. When time flies, who knows where--or when --he'll end up.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Two parents and their son set out on a marathon car trip, headed to Grandma's house for her birthday. "This is taking forever," the boy groans. Suddenly-is he dreaming?-a steam locomotive appears beside their car, chased by a cowboy on horseback. Following the text around sequential panels, readers end up flipping the book upside down and turning the pages back to front as the family travels into the past. Outside, pirates fight, knights joust, dinosaurs loom. Then, just as suddenly, text and pictures right themselves and the family zooms into the future, arriving at Grandma's house to find a space-age building in its place: "Today is October 24, 2059," a huge screen announces. The conclusion is as neat as the bow on Grandma's birthday gift (a clock). "Be patient," writes Caldecott Medalist Santat (The Adventures of Beekle), dedicating the book to his son. "We have all the time in the world." His own patience is what harnesses the energy of his riotous story and gives it a laser focus. It's a remarkable feat-a turbocharged adventure that's also a meditation on the relative nature of time. Ages 3-6. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 3-This imaginative take on the never-ending car ride is filled with surprises. Santat, creator of Caldecott Medal-winning The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend (Little, Brown, 2014), begins this story with an invitation to Grandma's birthday party, featured on the copyright page. The kid in the backseat is eager for the trip, but after the first hour, he is tired and cranky. Remarks like "Are we there yet?" and "This is taking forever" serve only to annoy his parents. Despite drawing paper, electronic games, a book, and several toys, including a monkey and dinosaur, the child is bored. "But what happens when your brain becomes.TOO. bored?" This question is spread over the top, down the recto side, and upside down at the bottom of the verso, causing readers to turn the book around as they read. An arrow instructs them to turn the pages in the opposite direction, which is somewhat counterintuitive, but once they get the hang of it, the novelty will delight. As the child in the backseat continues to complain, the family car drives through the old West, onto a pirate plank, to a medieval joust, to a pyramid in ancient Egypt, through the dinosaur age, and into the future. Though initially alarmed, the family eventually enjoy the adventure and finally arrive at their destination. At this point, readers must turn the book around again in order to arrive at the party, where numerous elderly friends and relatives are eating cake, wearing party hats, and offering presents. One man squeezes the grandson's cheek as another pats him on the head, causing him to whine, "Can we go now?" While the design is clever, though potentially confusing, the illustrations, rendered in pencil, crayon, watercolor, ink, and Photoshop are filled with excitement and humorous details-as the family travel back in time, their clothing alters to fit the scene, from prairie bonnets to caveman skins. Full-spreads, giant comic panels, and alarmed expressions add to the fun. VERDICT Most collections will want to purchase this original, amusing offering.-Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Following his Caldecott win for The Adventures of Beekle (2014), Santat offers an imaginative account of a boy's car trip to his grandmother's birthday party. What begins in excitement quickly devolves into boredom as minutes stretch into an hour. But then, readers are invited to consider what happens when their brain grows too bored. Let the interactive reading begin! The words begin to spiral around a spread featuring the boy's glazed expression, forcing the book to be rotated and read upside down. Suddenly, the slow-moving time transports the car back in history, placing it alongside a steam locomotive, a pirate ship, a jousting knight, and the newly built Sphinx in Cairo. The whole time, the parents appear startled by the changing scenery, but the boy's complaints (My butt hurts) continue until time stretches all the way back to the dinosaur-filled Jurassic period. Finally, he starts having fun, and time starts to fly; back around the book goes, sending the family to Grandma's at last. The gambit to get kids involved in the story works, and Santat's rich illustrations ranging from double-page spreads to comic-style panels carry it home. The text, on the other hand, reads a bit like greeting-card advice, but the inventive format and engrossing artwork will make kids happy to go along for the ride.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2016 Booklist

Horn Book Review

How do you follow up a Caldecott Medal win? If youre Dan Santat (The Adventures of Beekle), you turn the picture book form on its head. Using comic-style panels, text bubbles, and vibrant splashes of color in his mixed-media illustrations, Santat puts his family of three -- driver Dad, passenger Mom, bored-in-the-backseat boy -- in a nondescript orange sedan and sets them on the road to Grandmas birthday party. The boy unleashes a litany of time-honored complaints (I feel sickMy butt hurts), but this isnt just any old road-trip story. A line spiraling around the perimeter of the page connects single-word text boxes, leading readers to turn the book upside-down to orient images and text. The surrounding vehicles appear old-fashioned, and an arrow instructs readers to turn the page on the left side of the (upside-down) spread. The next several spreads feature the boys tired complaints in humorous contrast to his freaked-out parents attempts to navigate increasingly outlandish settings: a pirate ship, medieval times, ancient Egypt, prehistoric days. Finally, as the story reorients itself (right-side-up and left-to-right), the familys time-travels take them too far into a vaguely Blade Runner-esque future: We missed the party, the kid sighs. But, thankfully, its all (possibly) a dream. Visual clues (and a few Easter eggs: can you spot Beekle?) add depth and humor. While the text occasionally veers toward adult-centeredness (The road is full of twists and turnsso sit back and enjoy the ride), the visual presentation is so strikingly inventive that young readers wont mind a bit. sam bloom (c) Copyright 2016. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.