Members Get 10% Off and Earn Rewards Find Out More

Thou Shalt Not Road Trip

Add to Wishlist

Thou Shalt Not Road Trip

eBook

$8.99

eBook
$8.99

Available on Compatible NOOK Devices and the free NOOK Apps.

WANT A NOOK? Explore Now

Buy As Gift

Related collections and offers

Overview

From the award-winning author of Five Flavors of Dumb comes a novel featuring one crazy road trip full of rejection, redemption, and romance. Perfect for fans of John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines, or Sara Zarr’s Once Was Lost.

Sixteen-year-old Luke’s self-help book Hallelujah has become a national bestseller and his publisher is sending him on a cross-country book tour along the historic Route 66. Unfortunately for Luke, his irresponsible older brother Matt is coming along as chauffeur. When Matt offers to drive Luke’s ex-crush, Fran, across the country too, things really get crazy. In this journey of self-discovery, Luke has to loosen up and discover what it truly means to have faith to win the girl he loves.

"A highly readable balance of humor, heart, self-discovery, and shenanigans."—BCCB

"Christian values are conveyed with humor, devoid of potentially preachy pitfalls."—School Library Journal

"Features multifaceted teens whose faith is integrated with their thinking but doesn't define them completely . . . [A]n upbeat read with a unique premise, great settings, and just a little more."—Booklist

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101561768
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/12/2012
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	632 KB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Antony John won the Schneider Family Book Award for his novel Five Flavors of Dumb. As a choirboy in England, he got to hear a whole lot of confusing theological discussions. Throw in a spiritual connection with Route 66, and you get Thou Shalt Not Road Trip. He lives with his family in St. Louis, Missouri.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

John (Five Flavors of Dumb) returns with the disappointing story of 16-year-old Luke, the bestselling author of Hallelujah, a book about his faith inspired by his love of (and heartache over) his longtime friend Fran, who has morphed from an overachieving churchgoer to a goth with purple hair and tattoos. The story opens as Luke is about to embark on a road trip–style book tour with his college-age brother, Matt, but Matt has a surprise: Fran and her sister Alex (Matt’s girlfriend) will be joining them. As the group drives from Los Angeles to St. Louis, Luke learns how he hurt Fran and discovers a deeper understanding of faith (and himself). John’s novel lacks tension, and the characters are difficult to make sense of; Luke comes across as incredibly naïve, blind both to Matt’s attempts to use the trip for his own purposes as well as external sabotage aimed at tarnishing Luke’s reputation. The premise is fun, yet difficult to take seriously, notably the lack of adult supervision on the tour, especially as events spiral out of Luke’s control. Ages 12–up. Agent: Ted Malawer, Upstart Crow Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"A highly readable balance of humor, heart, self-discovery, and shenanigans." — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Christian values are conveyed with humor, devoid of potentially preachy pitfalls." — School Library Journal
"Features multifaceted teens whose faith is integrated with their thinking but doesn't define them completely . . . [A]n upbeat read with a unique premise, great settings, and just a little more." — Booklist

From the Publisher

"Features multifaceted teens whose faith is integrated with their thinking but doesn't define them completely . . . [A]n upbeat read with a unique premise, great settings, and just a little more."

Booklist

"A highly readable balance of humor, heart, self-discovery, and shenanigans."

The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Gr 7 Up—Last summer Pastor Andy asked the teens in his youth group to write modern-day parables for the Sunday school kids. In a fit of inspiration, hunched near the a/c vent in his room to escape the Missouri summer heat, Luke Dorsey wrote and wrote. With a bit of help from Pastor Andy, as well as Pastor Mike and a raft of editors, he has, much to his surprise, ended up with a best-selling, spiritual self-help book called Hallelujah. This summer Luke is flying to Los Angeles to meet his capricious older brother, Matt, who is chauffeuring him cross-country on a promotional book tour. It turns out, however, that Matt has invited his girlfriend, Alex, along, as well as her younger sister, Fran. This is the same Fran who used to be Luke's best friend, debate team partner, and the love of his life, until she changed last year. She dyed her hair purple and scarred her ears with multiple piercings and her body with angry-looking tattoos. The journey becomes one of mishaps, late arrivals to signings, lost and regained faith, and forgiveness and acceptance. Luke and Fran reconcile, with Luke realizing that he has been judging her based on superficial trappings rather than valuing what's on the inside. Christian values are conveyed with humor, devoid of potentially preachy pitfalls. Although at times the characters lack depth and the situations they find themselves in are far from believable, readers will undoubtedly enjoy journeying with Luke as he promotes Hallelujah at various Christian establishments across the country.—Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's School, Brooklyn, NY

School Library Journal

Luke Dorsey, the 16-year-old author of bestselling "spiritual chronicle" Hallelujah, goes on a calamitous road trip to promote his book. Luke's book tour takes him from Los Angeles to his hometown of St. Louis. Along for the ride are Luke's older brother Matt and, unexpectedly, Matt's girlfriend Alex and her younger sister Fran, Luke's former best friend. Tension between Luke and Matt and between Luke and Fran is apparent from the beginning, but the back story is filled in slowly enough that some of the significance of what happens between the characters will be lost on readers. On the road, the two sets of siblings experience breathtaking sights, automotive mishaps and dubious detours. As Luke learns the pitfalls of sudden celebrity, he is also forced to face the pain of having lost Fran's friendship when she started dyeing her hair and getting piercings and tattoos. Despite some engaging interpersonal drama, much of the premise here is hard to swallow: Why would a teenage author famous enough to make national news be sent on tour without parents or handlers? What is Luke's relationship to Christianity? How did Fran end up on this trip anyway? Readers who stick around for the back story will be rewarded; many, however, will lose faith. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

Related collections and offers

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Related Subjects

Customer Reviews