TAKING THE LONG WAY HOME

When Uncle Jerome picks the children up from school, a trip home turns into a thrilling adventure.

Usually, Daddy takes the young narrator and sister Zarah home from school, and they all zigzag hurriedly, relying on shortcuts to make the journey as quick as possible. Uncle Jerome, however, proposes taking the “LONG way home.” Impatient Zarah’s reluctant, but as they tromp through the woods listening for crows, Uncle Jerome’s vivid imagination enlivens the trip—look, pterodactyls flying overhead! Crocodiles lurk in the river, the family spots yeti tracks, and as they creep through the tall grass, a tiger looms. Even the ice cream truck offers an opportunity to let their imaginations run wild—the strawberry sauce is surely dripping vampire bat blood! Hope’s text uses excellent sound words such as crunch, scrunch, and click clack, making this an ideal read-aloud, anchored by the refrain, “Anything can happen on the long way home.” Fitzgerald’s illustrations depict Uncle Jerome’s visions, his dark red trench coat always shown mid-movement as it billows behind him. The narrator and Zarah have light brown skin and curly puffy black hair; their father and Uncle Jerome are darker-skinned; their mother, seen at the conclusion, is tan-skinned and orange-haired.

A playful reminder to find joy in the mundane.