EVERYBODY DUCK

Everybody is the saga of a family who drove from Huntington, Long Island, to Buenos Aires in a amphibious army "duck" at a maximum speed of 25 mph. They began when Mr. Hamilton lost his job, and he decided this was the ideal occasion to make a long coveted trip to South America. Gathering what capital they could, they converted the duck into an amphibious house, and took along a dog and three college boys in addition to their four young daughters. In all they travelled more than a year, sometimes by land and sometimes by sea, but they made it to Buenos Aires in spite of every natural and legal obstacle. Domestic arrangements in the duck were rough, to say the least; and if Mrs. Hamilton sometimes seems too concerned with how they got baths or showers, or what they had to eat (mostly spaghetti), that is understandable. She wisely avoids describing much of what they saw in the way of sights, as her literary powers and those of her collaborator are not great. She is at her best and most interesting in telling about the people they met and talked to in remote parts, as the Central American Islanders who told them: "You are not like other visitors who sometimes come here. We like you because you are friendly and treat us as equals. You hunt and fish with these men and talk with them and let them talk with you. Many people here do not bel you are Americans." A book guaranteed to stir wanderlust, though probably not for traveling in a duck.