- Book 1 of a series in which a family camps at different national parks
- animals keep going missing from a ranch next to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming
- convo: a few instances of romance (boyfriend mentioned, asking someone out, blushing), a pee joke*, implies pooping
- language: x1 freak out, x1 shoot, x1 stupid
Type: chapter book
Ages: 8-12
Author: C.R. Fulton
* Pretty clean, as far as these types of jokes go. 🙂
I always try to give some free passes to “first books” of series, since they frequently improve as the author finds his or her groove. In this case I’m glad I did–my kids and I listened to all of Book 2 before I compiled my notes into this post. Spoiler: I gave that second book five stars.
This first book (which I gave four stars) was quite wholesome besides the unnecessary topic of teen romance. It has its cheesy moments, just be warned, but it made for a pleasant audiobook. It also holds some pretty unrealistic scenarios, but that kept it amusing.
The story’s main family is refreshingly intact and respect and love each other, despite the faults and occasional tensions. A cousin joins them (as he does in Book 2) which adds to their fun.
The intensity level would probably be fine for even 7-year-olds, but on the whole, combined with what I know about Book 2, ages 8-12 is a great range.
We’ll be continuing our journey through America’s national parks with the Rawlings family, and I’ll link to other reviews below as I write them. Happy reading!