Are We There Yet? by David LevithanKnopf, 2005

David Levithan’s books always delight me so much: I love the sense of play that both he and his characters have: the word play (two kids driving down I-95 and “speaking Connecticut” to one another, “What’s Groton into you?” etc), the quirks, the charm. In this book, two brothers travel in Italy together, and learn that growing up doesn’t have to mean growing farther and farther apart. I love the chance encounters of this book, the different ways of traveling: the tension between having plans and not having plans, the serendipity of little shops and restaurants.