Road trip! : camping with the four vagabonds Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs

First Title Value for Searching:

Personal Author:

Friddell, Claudia

Physical Description:

1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cm.

Summary:

"It's time to hit the road! After years of inventing things that other people needed, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford realize there is something they need-- a vacation! So, the famous inventors pack up Ford's Model T and invite their good friends Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs to come along. "The Four Vagabonds" take to America's back roads to enjoy the country's natural wonders, fireside chats, frolicking fun-- and even a few new inventions. What they don't enjoy are the reporters and admirers who disturb their peace and quiet. The trips are indeed such big news that millions of Americans can't resist hitting the road for adventures all their own. Ready?"--

Subject Term:

Automobile travel -- United States -- Juvenile literature.

Camping -- Juvenile literature.

Additional Credits:

Holmes, Jeremy

Audience/Lexile:

Ages 6-9.

890 L

Publication Info:

New York : Calkins Creek, an imprint of Astra Books for Young Readers, [2022]

Subject:

Automobile travel -- United States -- Juvenile literature.

Camping -- Juvenile literature.

Edison, Thomas A. (Thomas Alva), 1847-1931 -- Juvenile literature.

Ford, Henry, 1863-1947 -- Juvenile literature.

Firestone, Harvey Samuel, 1868-1938 -- Juvenile literature.

Burroughs, John, 1837-1921 -- Juvenile literature.

Ai-ti-sheng, 1847-1931

Edison, Thomas Alva, 1847-1931

Ėdison, Tomas Alʹva, 1847-1931

Ėdisson, Tomas-Alʹva, 1847-1931

トーマス· A ·エジソン, 1847-1931

Ford, Genri, 1863-1947

Fu-tʻe, Heng-ti, 1863-1947

Fute, Hengli, 1863-1947

Hphu-the, Heṅ-li, 1863-1947

K̲apōrṭu, Hen̲r̲i, 1863-1947

פארד, הענרי

Firestone, Harvey S. (Harvey Samuel), 1868-1938

Automobile touring

Automobile traveling

Automobiles -- Touring

Automobiles -- Traveling

Automobiling

Touring, Automobile

Traveling by car

SAILS ISBN:

9781684372720

Available:

Library	Shelf Number	Shelf Location	Status
Searching... Plainville Public Library	J FRIDDELL	PICTURE BOOKS	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Lakeville Public Library	J 609.227 FRI	CHILDREN NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Mansfield Public Library	J 609.227 F	CHILDREN NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... New Bedford Free Public Library	J 609.2273 FRI 2022	CHILDREN NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Somerset Public Library	Y 796.54 FRI 2022	CHILDREN NONFICTION	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

Join Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs on their pioneering camping trips during the early 1900s in this energetic and entertaining nonfiction picture-book adventure.

After years of inventing things that other people needed, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford realized there was something they needed-a vacation! So, the famous inventors packed up Ford's Model T and invited their good friends Harvey Firestone and John Burroughs to join them as "the Four Vagabonds" hit America's back roads to enjoy the country's natural beauty, fireside chats, and frolicking fun with friends-all while inspiring future generations to invent camping adventures of their own.

"Buckle yourself in as Claudia Friddell and Jeremy Holmes take you on a fun, creative, and certainly unique road trip with America's most famous vagabonds-Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs. The colorful and spirited illustrations, the stories of the Vagabond's bivouacking travels and campsite escapades, and the well-researched bibliography makes Road Trip! a great addition to any child's library!"- Matt Andres, curatorial registrar, Edison and Ford Winter Estates

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3--6--An entertaining and informative picture book describing the camping adventures of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, John Burroughs, and Harvey Firestone. These famous men formed a friendship and shared a great love of the outdoors, calling themselves the Four Vagabonds. Their famous road trips inspired other Americans to discover the treasures in nature with a then new favorite pastime--recreational camping. The illustrations are bright and detailed with humorous speech bubbles in some panels and the four friends depicted as amusing caricatures. The afterword includes a detailed history of these four fellows, where they traveled, and why their adventures eventually came to an end. There are also photographs of the camping trips, their firsthand accounts, as well as accounts from some of the people they met on their trips. A detailed resource list is included for further research. VERDICT This is a dynamic and engaging book to complement units on inventors, nature, and camping. It is sure to spark further exploration of these famous men in history, and presents quite a contrast with what young people know of today's founders and start-up entrepreneurs.--Heidi Dechief

Kirkus Review

Three titans of industry (and one writer) rough it. Inventor Thomas Edison and car manufacturer Henry Ford are tired from their jobs making "life easier for others." They decide to go on vacation and motor off to explore the country in one of Ford's Model T's. They invite along their friend nature writer John Burroughs; the next summer, Ford and Edison take another trip, this time with tire kingpin Harvey Firestone. Finally, all four of them decide to travel together, and the foursome innovate the road trip. The book describes the places they visited, the activities they enjoyed, and how these stuffy old figures from history "acted more like kids at camp than men on vacation." Busy illustrations in a muted palette, reminiscent of sepia films highlighted with green and orange, help make this feel like an old-timey movie. While some children, especially those with an interest in history, will get a kick out of this lighthearted but informational text, the niche topic will limit its audience. Furthermore, the overall cheerful tone means that Henry Ford--an outspoken Nazi sympathizer admired greatly by Adolf Hitler--comes off as a peculiar but lovable gentleman, a complicated authorial choice. Extensive backmatter includes photographs, a map, and further anecdotes from the foursome's joint vacations, which stretched over a decade. (This book was reviewed digitally.) This car-centered history lesson is a lemon. (afterword, bibliography, further resources, photo credits) (Informational picture book. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Whatever grown-ups of today might think about four rich white dudes styling themselves "vagabonds" and semipublicly motoring off each summer with a large entourage to "camp," younger readers will enjoy Friddell's sprightly account of how an American supergroup--Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone (think: tires), and nature writer John Burroughs, with occasional hangers-on like (wait for it) Warren G. Harding--got together for a series of annual tours from 1914 on that took them from the Everglades to the California coast. In stylized illustrations, Holmes kits out his otherwise recognizable figures in pale faces with cheek spots, like mimes, and poses them, sometimes comically, in settings ranging from elaborately detailed workshops to spacious outdoor scenes. In the back matter--along with quotes, funny anecdotes, substantial resource lists, and photographs of these luminaries roughing it in their three-piece suits--the author suggests a larger historical context by claiming that news coverage of the outings actually planted the whole notion of "recreational camping" in the public mind. It's possible, and, either way, the book presents a colorful bit of Americana.