Song of the Open Road: Wherever You Go by Pat Zietlow Miller

WHEN IT'S TIME FOR A JOURNEY, TO LEARN AND EXPLORE,
ROADS GIVE CHANCES TO SEEK AND EXPLORE.

WANT ADVENTURE?
JUST OPEN THE DOOR.

A long-eared bunny sets forth on his bike, the lure of the open road keeping him moving, through autumn woods, past lakes and rivers, country cottages and picturesque villages, lovely cities, mountain peaks and snowy valleys. Along the way he acquires a traveling companion, a gray owl who sometimes flies overhead and sometimes rides in the bicycle basket.

ACROSS FLOWING RIVERS
PAST HARBORS AND BAYS,

WITH BREATHTAKING BRIDGES
DESIGNED TO AMAZE.

But every road is connected, connected to every other road and to every other place, and eventually the rabbit's roads become familiar and the way leads back home.

ROADS TAKE YOU ALL OVER THE PLANET, BUT THEN--
YOU ALWAYS CAN FOLLOW THEM HOME AGAIN.

Remember when it first hit you that everyone you know is connected, that the road outside your door joins other roads that finally lead to that person's front door? That is the joy of Pat Zietlow Miller's Wherever You Go (Little, Brown and Company, 2015). It's a simple idea, but a profound one, made amazing by the evocative and picturesque artwork of Eliza Wheeler. All seasons and all landscapes and cityscapes have their moment in those illustrations, the intrepid travelers stowing the bike on the back of a bus, rolling it onto a ferry, and pedaling it past skyscrapers, castles and pastures. With starred reviews for this book all around, Kirkus Reviews adds theirs, saying, "Children, thanks to captivating artwork and rhyme, will want nothing more than to ride his handlebars, bouncing and merry."

Pat Zietlow Miller is also the author of the delightfully poignant Sophie's Squash (see review here).

I'm Flyin' High....: Sebastian and the Balloon by Philip C. Stead

“There is nothing to see on my street,” laments Sebastian.

Never mind that Sebastian is seated on the highest peak of his roof, forbidden territory according to his parents. It's just the same old, same old, down there as far as he is concerned. Bo-ring!

Sebastian needs a change of view and of viewpoint, so he rustles up a large cardboard box, some rope, and various and sundry items of Granny's bedding and builds himself a hot-air balloon. Furnishing it with an umbrella, books, and baseball bat, Sebastian casts off to float through the murky, foggy night.

Sebastian is not the first storybook boy to succumb to ennui and declare "Nothing ever happens on my block!"* Still, his course is mostly laissez-faire, as he meets up with a similarly bored bear and shares his pickle sandwich with his passenger, until a gusty wind forces a hasty landing of a nearby cottage roof, shredding the balloon to, well, shreds.

"Oh, dear!" said the three sisters who lived inside. "If only we could find our knitting needles..."

They do, and the knitting sisters soon have the balloon shipshape, air-worthy, and re-launched, and the voyagers ride on, reading, stopping to ride a rickety wooden roller coaster, and enjoying the novelty of the view.

... until the wind picked up and it was time to go.

With understated wit and whimsy and retro-styled illustrations done in charcoal, paint, and pastel crayon for texture, Caldecott artist (for his A Sick Day for Amos McGee) Philip C. Stead's Sebastian and the Balloon (Roaring Brook, 2014) offers a dreamy fantasy flight with much to see along the way.

".. .another beautifully rendered picture book full of whimsy, heart and delight." says Kirkus Reviews, in a starred review.

*For a perfect deadpan case of exceptional ennui, see Ellen Raskin's vintage classic, Nothing Ever Happens on My Block,