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Summary
Summary
Jane and her friends have their whole summer planned: computer games, YouTube videos, and movies galore! So when Jane's parents announce that her family is spending the summer on a road trip to national parks across the country, she's upset and disappointed.
Jane is determined to stay connected to her friends and her phone, but somewhere between the Everglades and Big Bend National park, Jane begins paying attention to the stars and the wonders of the parks and spends less time looking at her screen. And the more she discovers, the more she begins to love what the outdoors have to offer. She can't wait to get back home and share her adventure with all her friends!
Former first lady Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna Bush Hager have created an exuberant picture book, with illustrations by Jacqueline Rogers, that shows that being outside is as exciting as playing any game online. And, it includes illustrated map endpapers and two pages of resources to help map out your own adventure, with a list of the national parks in every state!
In OUR GREAT BIG BACKYARD, Jane and her family visit the Everglades, Big Bend National Park, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite. And in the spirit of the book and in honor of the centennial of our national parks, HarperCollins will plant more than one thousand trees to coincide with the publication of Our Great Big Backyard.
Author Notes
Jenna is the younger of the fraternal twin daughters of the 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush and Laura Bush, and a granddaughter of the 41st U.S. President George H. W. Bush.
Hager is a teacher, author and correspondent for NBC's Today show. She has written articles for CosmoGIRL! and the New York Times. Jenna's first book, Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope, is based on her work with UNICEF.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Horn Book Review
Jane is excited to spend the summer playing video games, watching movies, and creating a YouTube channel. When her parents take her on a road trip instead, Jane looks beyond her screen to discover America's beauty. Awkward prose, a loud message, and hokey humor are only moderately redeemed by Rogers's appealing illustrations. A list of U.S. sites and parks is included. (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A family road trip through several national parks transforms young Jane's feelings about missing out on a summer of online fun with her friends."There's absolutely nothing to see here," Jane emails fretfully as her family drives through the scenic Smoky Mountains and canoes past alligators and manatees in the Everglades. But once her dad gets her to put the tablet away and look through a telescope at the night skies over Big Bend National Park, her attitude transforms: "OH WOW!" Soon she's tiptoeing over the Grand Canyon's Skywalk like an acrobat, playing pirate on a raft down the Colorado River, scouting out "Mountain lions, buffalo, and bears. Oh my!" in Yellowstoneand, discovering that she's misplaced her electronic device, sending written postcards to her friends from Yosemite. Furthermore, once back home, what better way to debrief than a backyard cookout under the stars? Giving blonde Jane and the rest of her white family broad, pleasant features, Rogers sends them smiling and singing their way through a succession of natural wonders, with bears and bald eagles, footnotes (adult supervision required on the Skywalk, for instance), and only a few fellow, occasionally diverse tourists in the background. Endpaper maps track the long itinerary, and a (select) list of other national parks and sites in each state offers more destinations.Produced to celebrate the National Park Service's upcoming centenary, a breezy invitation to prospective travelers to "get out there!" (Picture book. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.