Hit the Road, Manny (Manny Files Series)

Okay, so this is not exactly the birthday present Keats had in mind (no iPod?!), but when Dad parks a rented RV in the Dalinger's driveway, Keats piles in with the rest of his family — and the manny, of course — bound for the open road. From the big skies of farm country to the bright lights of Las Vegas, this, in typical manny fabulousness, is an all-American adventure filled with more Glamour-dos than Glamour-don'ts. But a stopover at the manny's childhood home is making the manny feel not so fabulous. Why can't his parents ever accept him for who he is? And Keats, at first, sees their point. Why does the manny always have to be so interesting?

Hit the road for more manny shenanigans, where it's all about Elton John, Diet Coke, and being brave enough to be yourself.

Kirkus Reviews

The manny is back, and he's on the road with Keats and crew in an RV bound for Las Vegas. Billed as an opportunity for the family to bond but coming across more like the pretext for a series of humorous vignettes, the trip includes stops at an offbeat roadside museum, an encounter with unenlightened locals, a heartfelt reunion with the manny's parents and a feel-good grand finale. Once again, the writing is smooth, the quips amusing and the characters charmingly quirky. And once again, the focus is on the manny-his relationship with his partner, his parents and the world at large-and the intended audience is unclear. Burch's references to '80s music and old TV ads will elicit chuckles from adults. Keats's ersatz naivete and ingenuous comments, particularly in his postcards home, will likely wring another round of laughs from same. But even those kids who might identify with Keats (i.e., outsiders with excellent taste and inflated vocabularies) seem unlikely to enjoy the arch tone and adult-centric jokes indefinitely. Delightful but misdirected. (Fiction. 9-12)

Author : Christian Burch

Publisher : Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing

Published Year : September 2008

Edition : 1

Subject : Children's Fiction, Family

ISBN : 141692812X

ISBN13 : 9781416928126