Brit has had her driver's license only eleven days when her parents drop her off for two weeks at her grandmother's house while they go on vacation.

Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com

If you want to read one of the most hilarious books of the summer, then you definitely need to pick up a copy of HIT THE ROAD by Caroline B. Cooney. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, or so often, while reading a book. If you've always believed that people over the age of eighty are nothing but dried up old husks of their former selves, then you need to meet the Buttermeres: Nannie Rawlings, Florence Mirsky, Aurelia Alan, and Daisy Ferrer. And the girl destined to either make an entire carload of new friends, or go crazy in the process, Brittany Anne Bowman.

Forced into her grandmother's care for two weeks while her parents cruise around Alaska, neither Brit nor Nannie particularly want to be babysat. After her own daughter cut her driver's license in half, took away her car, and left her to gather dust, Nannie Rawlings isn't in the best of moods. She's already missed out on last year's Reunion with her three best friends, but this year is number sixty-five, and she has no intention of not attending. So she gets a new license (through less than noble means), rents a car, and sets off with her granddaughter to pick up her friends. Brit soon realizes that if she wants to make it to the Reunion alive and in one piece, she's going to have to be the driver/chaueffer. Which isn't that bad except for situations like this:

"Nannie!" she yelled. "Read the signs! Tell me what to do! Do we want the Cross Island Parkway? Two-ninety-five? Four-ninety-five? The Van Wyck? The L.I.E.? The Long Island Expressway?"

"Those two are the same road."

"But do we want them?" Brit shrieked.

Thus begins a road trip that no one involved is likely to ever forget. Between convincing her parents via cell phone that they're at Nannie's house watching loud television, and convincing the "girls" that no one at the nursing home will realize they're gone, to avoiding the ruthless, money-hungry son of one of their own, HIT THE ROAD is a laugh-out-loud, non-stop story that will have you turning pages long into the night. A winning read that is as emotional as it is funny, Ms. Cooney has penned a definite winner. ( )

Britney is recruited by her elderly grandmother to drive across country and 'kidnap' a college friend who claims to have been forced into a home against her will. I enjoyed this book with the exception of the ending which felt rushed, as if the author suddenly remembered she only had 180 pages and had to end the story. Many issues were left unresolved and the interesting themes of teens gaining their independence while the elders lost theirs was basicly tossed aside while the adults and the boy she had a crush on suddenly appear to make the rescue. A great start with a disappointing end. ( )

Brittany is forced to stay with her grandmother while her parents go on a trip to Alaska. However, when her grandmother plans to go to her reunion and kidnap one of the "Buttermeres," Brittany begins to think it's a bit too much. Not to mention how she's illegally driving a renting car down dangerously fast highways.
I liked how the "Buttermeres" always had something up their sleeves. The pace was a bit slow at times, though, while others were really fast in contrast. ( )

This adventure book is about how newly-licensed Brittany, a sixteen year-old, is forced to drive her grandmother, Nannie, and her two former college roommates across country so that they can attend their sixty-fifth college reunion. The happily-ever-after ending is somewhat hare to swallow, but the bravery and spunk of the older characters, especially Nannie, keeps the book humorous and interesting for those reluctant readers. This is an effective book to use in the classroom to examine inter-generational relationships. ( )