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Hit the Road
Brit has had her driver’s license only 11 days when her parents drop her off to stay at her grandmother’s house for two weeks while they go on vacation. Little do they know Brit is headed for a three-state road trip with Nannie to pick up her college roommates, Florence, Aurelia, and Daisy, and bring them to their alma mater for their 65th—and most likely final—reunion.
A reluctant recruit at first, Brit is anxious as well as annoyed when she finds herself responsible for her fragile passengers. But things change as she sits behind the wheel up front and listens to “the girls” in the backseat laugh and reminisce about their 65 years of friendship. Inspired by their lifelong loyalty, Brit is willing to do whatever it takes to get the former college roommates to their reunion safely.
From bestselling author Caroline B. Cooney, a heartwarming look at friendship, both young and old.
A reluctant recruit at first, Brit is anxious as well as annoyed when she finds herself responsible for her fragile passengers. But things change as she sits behind the wheel up front and listens to “the girls” in the backseat laugh and reminisce about their 65 years of friendship. Inspired by their lifelong loyalty, Brit is willing to do whatever it takes to get the former college roommates to their reunion safely.
From bestselling author Caroline B. Cooney, a heartwarming look at friendship, both young and old.
183 pages, Hardcover
First published May 9, 2006
17 people are currently reading
571 people want to read
About the author
Caroline B. Cooney
129 books1,766 followersCaroline Cooney knew in sixth grade that she wanted to be a writer when "the best teacher I ever had in my life" made writing her main focus. "He used to rip off covers from The New Yorker and pass them around and make us write a short story on whichever cover we got. I started writing then and never stopped!"
When her children were young, Caroline started writing books for young people -- with remarkable results. She began to sell stories to Seventeen magazine and soon after began writing books. Suspense novels are her favorites to read and write. "In a suspense novel, you can count on action."
To keep her stories realistic, Caroline visits many schools outside of her area, learning more about teenagers all the time. She often organizes what she calls a "plotting game," in which students work together to create plots for stories. Caroline lives in Westbrook, Connecticut and when she's not writing she volunteers at a hospital, plays piano for the school musicals and daydreams!
- Scholastic.com
When her children were young, Caroline started writing books for young people -- with remarkable results. She began to sell stories to Seventeen magazine and soon after began writing books. Suspense novels are her favorites to read and write. "In a suspense novel, you can count on action."
To keep her stories realistic, Caroline visits many schools outside of her area, learning more about teenagers all the time. She often organizes what she calls a "plotting game," in which students work together to create plots for stories. Caroline lives in Westbrook, Connecticut and when she's not writing she volunteers at a hospital, plays piano for the school musicals and daydreams!
- Scholastic.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
January 9, 2020
I laughed until I cried, and then I cried for real, despite an ostensibly happy ending after the storm. In other words, what I thought was going to be a hoot and a half of 4 old ladies on their way to a merry old time...turns out to be 2 old ladies on a mission to spring their other friend from the nursing home she's been put in against her will by her only son, who insists she actually has Alzheimer's and cannot be removed from medical supervision. It's not clear who to believe at first, and that conflict eventually overtakes the journey aspect, but it's a worthwhile change.
This book is so funny at the beginning that I kept laughing at out loud. The old ladies can be very quippy, and Brit is a very enthusiastic and hilarious 16-year-old with a similar personality to Sue Heck (of The Middle). Plus, speaking as someone who took years to work up to freeway driving, still has a freakout on any stretch with more than 3 lanes, and is so afraid of the spaghetti noodle tangle at the heart of St. Paul that she flatly refuses to drive into it and will go around the long way every time, I thought the multiple chapters devoted to the terrifying beginning of the drive were VERY ON POINT.
The book sank its claws into my heart when, after one driving terror too many, Brit yells that they are absolutely NOT going to pick up the next friend, they are turning around and going home because SHE IS THE DRIVER AND SHE SAYS SO. The women can't argue with that, so they go quiet, and then Brit feels bad and changes her mind when she realizes it does not feel good to boss around old women who, for all their life experience, are now as dependent as children with nowhere to go but down.
They've outlived everything, she thinks later. Parents, husbands, some of their children, their health, parts of their minds and even their buildings.
This is a recurring theme in the book, how awful the loss of independence is when your body starts to break down and betray you even though you can still easily recall being a carefree college girl.
(Speaking of college -- I want to be a Buttermere! I was so enchanted by the stories of their friendship at college in the late 1930s that I had to take myself straight to an antique mall and find an old university yearbook with long, heartfelt messages full of happy memories written all over it to get my full fix.)
Where my heart truly broke was
All in all, I was very, very satisfied with the way things turned out despite my many tears along the way. It is ultimately a happy-toned book, after all. Everything is just so, so well written, humorous when appropriate while also surprisingly good at making these unexpectedly thoughtful comments about aging.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find an authentic 1930s novel about a group of young women in college so I can imagine The Girls at the peak of their youth, bright futures all ahead.
This book is so funny at the beginning that I kept laughing at out loud. The old ladies can be very quippy, and Brit is a very enthusiastic and hilarious 16-year-old with a similar personality to Sue Heck (of The Middle). Plus, speaking as someone who took years to work up to freeway driving, still has a freakout on any stretch with more than 3 lanes, and is so afraid of the spaghetti noodle tangle at the heart of St. Paul that she flatly refuses to drive into it and will go around the long way every time, I thought the multiple chapters devoted to the terrifying beginning of the drive were VERY ON POINT.
The book sank its claws into my heart when, after one driving terror too many, Brit yells that they are absolutely NOT going to pick up the next friend, they are turning around and going home because SHE IS THE DRIVER AND SHE SAYS SO. The women can't argue with that, so they go quiet, and then Brit feels bad and changes her mind when she realizes it does not feel good to boss around old women who, for all their life experience, are now as dependent as children with nowhere to go but down.
They've outlived everything, she thinks later. Parents, husbands, some of their children, their health, parts of their minds and even their buildings.
This is a recurring theme in the book, how awful the loss of independence is when your body starts to break down and betray you even though you can still easily recall being a carefree college girl.
(Speaking of college -- I want to be a Buttermere! I was so enchanted by the stories of their friendship at college in the late 1930s that I had to take myself straight to an antique mall and find an old university yearbook with long, heartfelt messages full of happy memories written all over it to get my full fix.)
Where my heart truly broke was
All in all, I was very, very satisfied with the way things turned out despite my many tears along the way. It is ultimately a happy-toned book, after all. Everything is just so, so well written, humorous when appropriate while also surprisingly good at making these unexpectedly thoughtful comments about aging.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go find an authentic 1930s novel about a group of young women in college so I can imagine The Girls at the peak of their youth, bright futures all ahead.
April 6, 2009
I was a few pages from the end of the book and ready to give it 4 stars, do a happy dance that it all turned out okay, and call it a day. But nooooo! It's like getting into a movie and then right at the end when everything starts to calm down and you're getting to the conclusion...the screen goes black and the end credits start rolling. You're left there thinking, "What? Is that the ending? Really??". It didn't feel like it really ended. The book did have a sense of finality, but the kind you get from the end of a chapter. I guess the author thought that the rest of the stuff wasn't imporatant to what the message of the book was.
There's no denying that this book was hilarious. Brit(the main character) was funny in her panic. Her grandmother, Nannie, and her friends "the girls" added a whole lot of humor. I liked that the author wrote about the struggles that come with old age, that don't only involve bladder problems and failing memory. You see how as Nannie and her friends get older they begin to lose more and more of their freedom. The book kept me interested until the very "end".
It feels like there should be another book. I would read the sequel to this in hopes of getting the ending that I didn't get from the first one. Your left hanging at the end, and I would've really liked to see how it all worked out. It's a funny and interesting book, but it doesn't feel complete on it's own.
There's no denying that this book was hilarious. Brit(the main character) was funny in her panic. Her grandmother, Nannie, and her friends "the girls" added a whole lot of humor. I liked that the author wrote about the struggles that come with old age, that don't only involve bladder problems and failing memory. You see how as Nannie and her friends get older they begin to lose more and more of their freedom. The book kept me interested until the very "end".
It feels like there should be another book. I would read the sequel to this in hopes of getting the ending that I didn't get from the first one. Your left hanging at the end, and I would've really liked to see how it all worked out. It's a funny and interesting book, but it doesn't feel complete on it's own.
November 16, 2016
The idea of the teen helping the old ladies have one more Reunion is lovely. But the melodrama and the implausibilities are absolutely ridiculous. The girl has had her license just a few days, hasn't driven the highway, learned in an Accord, and now has to immediately go from Connecticut to Long Island in a rented SUV. And there's a truly evil person objecting to the plans. And, though none of the old ladies is actually senile, they're acting like it, having not thought things through at all, and they're physically very fragile. Ok, so they're old, if they don't do this thing cuz they die en route, fine, but to endanger the grand-daughter? Not cool. We really didn't need all that extra bs to have an enjoyable, illuminating inter-generational adventure. Especially the evil son. Just, no.
August 5, 2011
Caroline B. Cooney has been churning out fun reads for YA for decades. Hit the Road is just another awesome summer read in a long line of good summer reads. The plot is fairly simple - 16 year old Brit is dropped off at her grandmother's house while her parents leave for an Alaskan cruise. Shortly after her parents pull out of the driveway, a large GMC Safari van pulls in. Nannie, Brit's grandmother, has decided that they are off to kidnap her college roommate who has been put in a nursing home against her will. The only problem - Nannie is too tiny to drive the large van. So Brit, a brand new driver, and Nannie set off to pick up college roommates and rescue others. Along the way, there is action and suspense. Brit also learns what it means to be a friend as well as a small lesson in ageism. A fun, quick read for summer!
April 26, 2015
The only bad thing about Hit The Road was that it was so fast moving I couldn't stop to think. I raced through the ending so fast, I had to read it over next day. I may read the whole thing over tomorrow.
Ever liked a movie so much that you stayed seated and watched it a second time? For me, as an adult, yes--Revenge Of The Nerds. And that's the way this book struck me. The driving scenes are hilarious--nearly getting smeared by a semi at seventy miles-per-hour; lanes that narrow down so dramatically you almost lose a mirror; construction codes ahead and--
Your Mom calls.
(The above paragraph may seem like a spoiler, but trust me, it won't spoil anything. It just keeps getting better.)
And they say Americans can't do comedy!
Ever liked a movie so much that you stayed seated and watched it a second time? For me, as an adult, yes--Revenge Of The Nerds. And that's the way this book struck me. The driving scenes are hilarious--nearly getting smeared by a semi at seventy miles-per-hour; lanes that narrow down so dramatically you almost lose a mirror; construction codes ahead and--
Your Mom calls.
(The above paragraph may seem like a spoiler, but trust me, it won't spoil anything. It just keeps getting better.)
And they say Americans can't do comedy!
September 29, 2017
When 16-year-old Brittany Anne Bowman get dumped off by her parents at her Nannie's hours, she thinks her summer vacation is going to be a complete bore. But when her grandmother, whose car has been sold because she can no longer driver, rents a mini-van and says "Don't worry. I'll navigate; you'll steer. Load the car, Brit. Then we hit the parkway. We have a kidnap scheduled," Brit realizes that her vacation may turn out quite interesting. Just how action-packed she didn't realize, what with the ferry-hopping, impersonating, jewelry-stealing and credit card manipulation, plus Nannie getting abducted by the evil Aston, which wasn't part of the plan. All so that Nannie and her three friends could attend their 65th college reunions.
January 20, 2014
I loved this book and I thought the author's insights into what it meant to be old were very meaningful. The thought of reaching the point where I am no longer allowed to make my own decisions is terrifying. Cooney kept the story moving with Brit, who I found to be a very believable teenager, and created a very engaging narrative. Some of the reviewers have been disappointed with the ending but I thought it helped make the point of the book. It was never about getting to Reunion, but was about friendship and why friendships are important. After finishing I picked up my phone and got in touch with a few friends that I hope to remain connected with for the rest of my life.
September 22, 2007
Mediocre. Exciting story but way too much internal waffling. Should I? Shouldn't I? Let's just think about it for several pages.
May 22, 2018
Was one of the best books I ever read
December 3, 2012
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, nonstop 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.
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, nonstop 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.
March 16, 2013
i chose to read "hit the road" written by Caroline B.Cooney after my older sister recommended it to me while i was bored with nothing to do. I agree with my sisters review on this book. It was exciting, unpredictable and thrilling.
Hit the road completes the category of a book recommended by a member of your family. This book really suited me because it was adventure cased. my sister gave the me very high expectations of the book and i believe her review was bang on.
my favourite quote in hit the road is the blurb "pack the bags, get in the car, we have a kidnap scheduled ". You would suspect by "kidnap" they mean strong men going to kidnap a child. It fooled me ! turned out it was a funny novel about a teenager and her Nannie who attempt to kidnap there her dear friend Aurelia from a retirement home and saving her from her horrible, money stealing, property taking son.
This novel doesn't have a strong meaning behind it, however i learned about the importance of friendship in situations that involve decisions between friendship and popularity. True friends will stick together trough thick or thin.
The character that interested me through out the novel would have to be the main character Brit. At first she seemed like the perfect child but as each chapter past i found that there was more to her than what i anticipated. She started with a shy personality and as the book continued she learnt to stand up for he rights and opinions.
Hit the road completes the category of a book recommended by a member of your family. This book really suited me because it was adventure cased. my sister gave the me very high expectations of the book and i believe her review was bang on.
my favourite quote in hit the road is the blurb "pack the bags, get in the car, we have a kidnap scheduled ". You would suspect by "kidnap" they mean strong men going to kidnap a child. It fooled me ! turned out it was a funny novel about a teenager and her Nannie who attempt to kidnap there her dear friend Aurelia from a retirement home and saving her from her horrible, money stealing, property taking son.
This novel doesn't have a strong meaning behind it, however i learned about the importance of friendship in situations that involve decisions between friendship and popularity. True friends will stick together trough thick or thin.
The character that interested me through out the novel would have to be the main character Brit. At first she seemed like the perfect child but as each chapter past i found that there was more to her than what i anticipated. She started with a shy personality and as the book continued she learnt to stand up for he rights and opinions.
March 24, 2022
This was a book I saw here on GR a while ago and suddenly HAD to read this, and when I say had to mean that. I had it imported from NJ to England and was so ready to read this fantastic about girl power and decade-old friendship, a road trip (my fave trope) and romance, what more could you want?
Well for a start, more detail on the everything, places, people, context. Give me more and I would have loved it but it was just to brief and well... fast. I wanted a group of golden girls meets amy and roger epic detour but instead, I got this fast pace novel where everything could have been in more detail. It's a cute read for the afternoon but not the groundbreaking hope of female friendship I was expecting.
Well for a start, more detail on the everything, places, people, context. Give me more and I would have loved it but it was just to brief and well... fast. I wanted a group of golden girls meets amy and roger epic detour but instead, I got this fast pace novel where everything could have been in more detail. It's a cute read for the afternoon but not the groundbreaking hope of female friendship I was expecting.
September 13, 2010
ages 10+ W
hen 16 year old Brittany's parents go on an Alaskan cruise, she's supposed to stay with her 86 year old grandmother, Nannie. Little does she know that Nannie has plans up her sleeve to rescue one of her old college roommates - known as 'the girls' - from a nursing home. Armed with an 11 day old drivers license and a rented van, Nannie and Brit are ready to take the ride of their lives. Charming at first. One note 'villain', deus ex machina resolution, abrupt ending - would have liked to see an epilogue where the girls make it to the reunion. Not Cooney's best work, but bound to be appealing.
hen 16 year old Brittany's parents go on an Alaskan cruise, she's supposed to stay with her 86 year old grandmother, Nannie. Little does she know that Nannie has plans up her sleeve to rescue one of her old college roommates - known as 'the girls' - from a nursing home. Armed with an 11 day old drivers license and a rented van, Nannie and Brit are ready to take the ride of their lives. Charming at first. One note 'villain', deus ex machina resolution, abrupt ending - would have liked to see an epilogue where the girls make it to the reunion. Not Cooney's best work, but bound to be appealing.
October 24, 2007
I read this book for a YA literature class, and I chose it because it is up for a Beehive Award. How this got onto that list, I'll never know. The author's style is annoying and just doesn't flow; the plot doesn't get interesting until the last 50 pages and doesn't get resolved until the last 3 pages; the characters don't really have any growth (maybe until the last sentence of the book). The concept is quite cute, but the execution is painful.
August 15, 2016
The old ladies in this book are amazing. I want to be that cool when I'm old. Also, props to Bridget for all her driving. I know what ferries are like, and driving off of them is scary even if you're properly licensed. Also, I want a Cooper in my life.
February 26, 2019
21 May 2006 HIT THE ROAD by Caroline B. Cooney, Random House/Delacorte, May 2006, ISBN: 0-385-72944-8; Libr.ISBN: 0-385-90174-7
"You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere"
--Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car"
"Brit had been there when Mom said to Nannie, 'Your eyes are so bad you can't tell the difference between a trash barrel and a two-year-old at the side of the road. Your knees are so stiff it takes you five minutes to brake. You have to stop driving.' Mom went right into Nannie's purse, fished out her driver's license, cut it in half and tossed it in the garbage. In vain, Nannie pleaded, 'Without a car all I can do is gather dust and stare out the window.' Because Nannie's house was three miles from a quart of milk, a committee meeting or a bridge game.
" 'I've hired an aide,' said Brit's mother briskly. 'She'll take you where you want to go. You won't even notice not having a car.'
"How could you not notice that you didn't have a car? Brit had been noticing that one all her life. She noticed every single kid who got their own car and every single one who didn't."
Now, months later, and exactly eleven days after sixteen-year-old Brittany Anne Bowman has gotten her own drivers license, she finds herself unceremoniously dumped--carless--at Nannie's Connecticut house as her parents head off on a trip to Alaska for a couple of weeks. But Nannie, who no longer moves very fast but is still sharp as a tack, has had quite enough of her daughter's tyranny and is ready to fight back in her own way. She and her three college roommates have formulated secret plans to hit the road together and attend their sixty-fifth year college reunion up in Maine. At that age it could well be their last chance.
But when Brit arrives, and it turns out that Nannie is too small to pilot the rental SUV that's, been delivered to her house, Brit suddenly finds herself behind the wheel of that GMC Safari, chauffeuring a pair of the octogenarians up through New England to a facility where one of the elderly quartet of long time friends has been fraudulently and involuntarily committed to an Alzheimer's ward by her money-grubbing son. Their springing Aurelia from Fox Hills Adult Community leads to wild chases, real dangers, and dirty double crosses.
Some of Brit's maneuvering involves cell phone conversations with hunky computer genius and aspiring filmmaker Cooper James, the young man Brit has had a crush on since seventh grade. (He is also the young man who hasn't spoken a word to her in months, since accidentally discovering that he was the unwitting subject of various documents stored in Brit's laptop, such as "Our Wedding" and "Our Honeymoon Plans.")
HIT THE ROAD is a total hoot. Author Caroline B. Cooney has achieved a very entertaining balance between the slapstick humor involving "the girls," the communications technology aspects that allow Brit's friends to be a vital part of the action without ever being inside the luxury SUV, and the story's a-ha moments, where readers will surely recognize how capricious treatment of the elderly by their adult children can seem so incredibly similar to the manner in which many young adults feel they are treated by their parents.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
"You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere"
--Tracy Chapman, "Fast Car"
"Brit had been there when Mom said to Nannie, 'Your eyes are so bad you can't tell the difference between a trash barrel and a two-year-old at the side of the road. Your knees are so stiff it takes you five minutes to brake. You have to stop driving.' Mom went right into Nannie's purse, fished out her driver's license, cut it in half and tossed it in the garbage. In vain, Nannie pleaded, 'Without a car all I can do is gather dust and stare out the window.' Because Nannie's house was three miles from a quart of milk, a committee meeting or a bridge game.
" 'I've hired an aide,' said Brit's mother briskly. 'She'll take you where you want to go. You won't even notice not having a car.'
"How could you not notice that you didn't have a car? Brit had been noticing that one all her life. She noticed every single kid who got their own car and every single one who didn't."
Now, months later, and exactly eleven days after sixteen-year-old Brittany Anne Bowman has gotten her own drivers license, she finds herself unceremoniously dumped--carless--at Nannie's Connecticut house as her parents head off on a trip to Alaska for a couple of weeks. But Nannie, who no longer moves very fast but is still sharp as a tack, has had quite enough of her daughter's tyranny and is ready to fight back in her own way. She and her three college roommates have formulated secret plans to hit the road together and attend their sixty-fifth year college reunion up in Maine. At that age it could well be their last chance.
But when Brit arrives, and it turns out that Nannie is too small to pilot the rental SUV that's, been delivered to her house, Brit suddenly finds herself behind the wheel of that GMC Safari, chauffeuring a pair of the octogenarians up through New England to a facility where one of the elderly quartet of long time friends has been fraudulently and involuntarily committed to an Alzheimer's ward by her money-grubbing son. Their springing Aurelia from Fox Hills Adult Community leads to wild chases, real dangers, and dirty double crosses.
Some of Brit's maneuvering involves cell phone conversations with hunky computer genius and aspiring filmmaker Cooper James, the young man Brit has had a crush on since seventh grade. (He is also the young man who hasn't spoken a word to her in months, since accidentally discovering that he was the unwitting subject of various documents stored in Brit's laptop, such as "Our Wedding" and "Our Honeymoon Plans.")
HIT THE ROAD is a total hoot. Author Caroline B. Cooney has achieved a very entertaining balance between the slapstick humor involving "the girls," the communications technology aspects that allow Brit's friends to be a vital part of the action without ever being inside the luxury SUV, and the story's a-ha moments, where readers will surely recognize how capricious treatment of the elderly by their adult children can seem so incredibly similar to the manner in which many young adults feel they are treated by their parents.
Richie Partington, MLIS
Richie's Picks http://richiespicks.pbworks.com
https://www.facebook.com/richiespicks/
richiepartington@gmail.com
July 4, 2024
When 16 year old Brit is dropped off at her nannie's house by her parents for the summer, she thinks she will be really bored. No chance! Her nannie intends to go to her 65th school reunion with 3 of her friends living in 3 different east coast states. However, her car rental is a van she can't drive and Brit ends up being the driver, although she has only had her license for a few days.
They plan to 'kidnap' Aurelia who lives in a seniors home, put there by her son.
The ensuing story is hilarious!
They plan to 'kidnap' Aurelia who lives in a seniors home, put there by her son.
The ensuing story is hilarious!
March 21, 2021
I used to read Caroline B. Cooney in high school. i recently realized I was a fool not to keep those books! I loved them and I loved this one. It is so eye opening, especially as a child whose parents are getting to be a certain age. Great story. I didn't want this book to end. What happened next with the girls? With Brit? What's up with Cooper? I NEED TO KNOW. A sequel would be nice! :)
I highly recommend this book.
I highly recommend this book.
November 3, 2018
Too implausible for another star. Nice idea of a teenager helping her and other grandmother types. I know 86 yr olds and none act as juvenile as these ladies. Many are both agile and very competent. Somehow the entire story revolves around stereotypes. I’ll be careful to avoid teen books after this.
August 14, 2017
Brit just got her drivers license, which leads to her becoming the driver in her grandmother's kidnapping scheme. Brit grandmother's friend was unjustly put in a retirement home and the two are going to break her out. This novel is a fun road trip book about this experience.
January 21, 2020
Such a cute story. Although the main character is a teen girl, I really do not believe it would attract teens, but more suitable for adults. Perfect for senior citizens! It was a fast read-never a dry spot.
August 13, 2021
At the beginning it was hilarious but about half way thru the old ladies wasn’t in it but a few lines here and there. I was hoping they got Daisy and went to the reunion and had the book do the reunion. It would’ve been a blast and hilarious with all the old women
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2018
Always respect your elders.
March 18, 2024
Good book. Fun story about older ladies on an adventure and standing up for themselves.
December 19, 2016
Hit the Road is a 2006 YA novel by Caroline Cooney, which is unusual in the sense that only one main character is a teenager. Brit, who has just gotten her driver’s license, is left to stay at her grandmother’s house while her parents go on vacation. Shortly after her parents set off on their trip, Brit learns that her grandmother has plans for a road trip. She has rented a car and plans to drive it through three states in order to pick up her dearest friends and bring them to her 65th college reunion. One look at her grandmother tells Brit that she is really in no shape to make this trip, and at first, she tries to convince the old woman to stay home. Before she knows what hit her, however, Brit has agreed to drive her grandmother on her trip, and to assist in the kidnapping of one of her friends from a nursing home! What ensues is a madcap adventure that turns ugly when the son of the nursing-home-bound friend reveals his plans to punish Brit for her involvement in kidnapping his mother.
I originally chose to read this book because it seemed like a fluffy alternative to most of Caroline Cooney’s other books, which are typically darker “issue” novels. I didn’t think even Cooney could find a way to turn a grandmother/granddaughter road trip into a thriller. I should not have underestimated her. While most of this book is very charming and funny, there are definitely moments of fear and frustration as the villain tries to thwart Brit’s plans to deliver her grandmother safely to her reunion. Hit the Road is nowhere near as dark or scary as some of Cooney’s other stories (namely Fog), but it isn’t as much of a deviation for Cooney as it first appears either.
What impressed me most about this book, overall, is how Cooney is able to keep the story exciting and interesting, even when Brit is basically on her own with four batty old women, doing nothing more than driving and occasionally texting her best friend and the boy she likes. It doesn’t sound very exciting to read about such mundane happenings, but Cooney makes it engaging by incorporating flashbacks to Brit’s interactions with her crush during the school year, and forcing Brit to respond again and again to the unexpected behavior of her elderly passengers. I suspect the introduction of the villain later in the story might also be an attempt to keep reluctant readers engaged, though I don’t necessarily believe that was necessary, as the writing is good enough to carry the story even without all the additional drama. In fact, I think this is one of Cooney’s better written books. It doesn’t quite match the level of The Face on the Milk Carton, but it is definitely worlds better than Janie Face to Face or Fog.
Keep this book in mind for a summer road trip read, and recommend it to readers who have close relationships with their grandparents. This book is most likely to appeal to younger teens, ages 13 to 15, especially those who have read Cooney before and enjoyed her work. Read-alikes may include Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer, A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck, and My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald.
I originally chose to read this book because it seemed like a fluffy alternative to most of Caroline Cooney’s other books, which are typically darker “issue” novels. I didn’t think even Cooney could find a way to turn a grandmother/granddaughter road trip into a thriller. I should not have underestimated her. While most of this book is very charming and funny, there are definitely moments of fear and frustration as the villain tries to thwart Brit’s plans to deliver her grandmother safely to her reunion. Hit the Road is nowhere near as dark or scary as some of Cooney’s other stories (namely Fog), but it isn’t as much of a deviation for Cooney as it first appears either.
What impressed me most about this book, overall, is how Cooney is able to keep the story exciting and interesting, even when Brit is basically on her own with four batty old women, doing nothing more than driving and occasionally texting her best friend and the boy she likes. It doesn’t sound very exciting to read about such mundane happenings, but Cooney makes it engaging by incorporating flashbacks to Brit’s interactions with her crush during the school year, and forcing Brit to respond again and again to the unexpected behavior of her elderly passengers. I suspect the introduction of the villain later in the story might also be an attempt to keep reluctant readers engaged, though I don’t necessarily believe that was necessary, as the writing is good enough to carry the story even without all the additional drama. In fact, I think this is one of Cooney’s better written books. It doesn’t quite match the level of The Face on the Milk Carton, but it is definitely worlds better than Janie Face to Face or Fog.
Keep this book in mind for a summer road trip read, and recommend it to readers who have close relationships with their grandparents. This book is most likely to appeal to younger teens, ages 13 to 15, especially those who have read Cooney before and enjoyed her work. Read-alikes may include Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer, A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck, and My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald.
February 22, 2016
The book “ HIt the Road” by Caroline Cooney wanted me to hop on a road trip with my Grandma and her friends and see what happens. THis book is realistic fiction because there are people out in the world crazy enough to key their own Porsche just to get what they want. This book takes place in New York and Maine on a road trip to get to the girls sixty fifth college reunion. Their chauffeur Brit was excepting the start of the summer to be laid back and chill while she baby sat her Nanny. However, it got chaotic the minute her parents left her alone with her rebellious eighty year old grandma. Brit’s Grandma's best friend, is Aurelia who happens to be stuck in a home for people with Alzheimer's however, she does not actually have alzheimer's. Her son who believes he is the boss of everyone and everything just wants her to die quicker that way he can claim all of his mother’s money. Britt manages to kidnap an elderly person, break the law within 5 minutes, run off roads, and be completely successful on battling a coward who just wants money to go to casinos and marry 3 woman at the same time. She risks her future, her present, and overall her life just to get four elderly woman to their sixty fifth reunion. ( literally they have attended every reunion together) I rate this book four stars out of five because I would have loved more action and more description throughout all of their crazy adventures in a short period of time.
July 24, 2008
Caroline B. Cooney's latest novel, HIT THE ROAD, is without a doubt one of the funniest books I've ever read. Britanny is in for quite a surprise when she arrives at her grandmother's house to 'babysit' her while her parents are on an Alaskan vacation. You see, Nannie has plans of her own--none of which include staying home and watching tv--so Brit, relunctantly at first, joins her schemes little knowing how those adventures would change her life.
The plan? To pick up her former college roomates Flo, Aurelia, and Daisy and head to their 65th college reunion in Maine.
The problem? All of these ladies have been told by their adult children that they are NOT going to be allowed to go because they are too sick, too old, or too senile. In fact, Aurelia is in a facility for Alzheimer's under constant guard.
The solution? Using a rental car, and a newly licensed 16 year old...drive across New England, pick up Flo, and kidnap Aurelia, etc.
But Plan A is always being revised...you see it's not easy for Brit to follow the plan when her Nannie can't remember which town, which street, or even the last name of her best friend, Flo.
What happens along the way is both hilarious and bittersweet, as Brit gets to know these "girls" she learns some life lessons of her own.
Full of humor, action, adventure...HIT THE ROAD is an amazing novel.
The plan? To pick up her former college roomates Flo, Aurelia, and Daisy and head to their 65th college reunion in Maine.
The problem? All of these ladies have been told by their adult children that they are NOT going to be allowed to go because they are too sick, too old, or too senile. In fact, Aurelia is in a facility for Alzheimer's under constant guard.
The solution? Using a rental car, and a newly licensed 16 year old...drive across New England, pick up Flo, and kidnap Aurelia, etc.
But Plan A is always being revised...you see it's not easy for Brit to follow the plan when her Nannie can't remember which town, which street, or even the last name of her best friend, Flo.
What happens along the way is both hilarious and bittersweet, as Brit gets to know these "girls" she learns some life lessons of her own.
Full of humor, action, adventure...HIT THE ROAD is an amazing novel.
August 20, 2008
What happens when you mix up four ancient ladies and one newly licensed sixteen-year-old driver? Find out in this hilarious road adventure when Brittany Bowman and her eighty-six-old grandmother, Nannie hit the road from Connecticut to Maine to attend Nannie’s college reunion with the girls from the Buttermere dorm.
They’ve been going to “Reunion” every year since graduation and nothing is going to stop them from attending this year either, even if they have to kidnap one of their friends from a rest home, and they’re depending on Brit, who’s never even driven outside of her own town to get them there!
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Brit’s mom and dad dropped her off at Nannie’s and they’re flying to Alaska for a vacation, and Brit wanted nothing more than to spend the summer at home, hanging out with friends and thinking about her cutie Cooper James.
As the adventure unravels, Brittany finds herself acting as the adult to the four old ladies and is determined that nothing will get in her way, not even Aurelia’s son who put her in the rest home so he could have access to all her money. Brit’s friends Cooper and Hayley try to keep up with the group from home through phone and text conversations. Brittany realizes that sometimes elderly women are just as powerless as teenage ones.
A fun read.
They’ve been going to “Reunion” every year since graduation and nothing is going to stop them from attending this year either, even if they have to kidnap one of their friends from a rest home, and they’re depending on Brit, who’s never even driven outside of her own town to get them there!
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Brit’s mom and dad dropped her off at Nannie’s and they’re flying to Alaska for a vacation, and Brit wanted nothing more than to spend the summer at home, hanging out with friends and thinking about her cutie Cooper James.
As the adventure unravels, Brittany finds herself acting as the adult to the four old ladies and is determined that nothing will get in her way, not even Aurelia’s son who put her in the rest home so he could have access to all her money. Brit’s friends Cooper and Hayley try to keep up with the group from home through phone and text conversations. Brittany realizes that sometimes elderly women are just as powerless as teenage ones.
A fun read.
October 27, 2008
I do like Caroline Cooney's books. Her characters are usually believable and captivating. This book is no exception. 16-year-old Brit has been left with her grandmother,Nannie, whom she loves dearly, while her parents are on vacation, and they have taken the family car with them. This is a sentence equaling total boredom to a girl who just got her driver's license. Nannie will be no help because Brit's mother has determined that Nannie is incompetent and not only took away her car, but cut up her driver's license. Nannie, however, has other plans. She has rented a van and plans to pick up three of her college roommates for their 65th reunion. Several problems make the story interesting: Nannie cannot see out of the big vehicle, and doesn't have enough strength to press the brake. One of the roommates has been involuntarily sent to a nursing home by a greedy son, and subterfuge is required to spring her. Will Brit illegally drive the rental car? Will she go along with the planned "kidnapping"? How will she relate to "the girls" as back-seat drivers? The ending was a teensy bit unbelieveable, but happy endings are good. I went back in time to my own 16-year-old days with the descriptions of Brit driving on the highway for the first time - it was scary then, and it was scary reading how Brit coped with it. Recommended for middle and high school readers.
November 4, 2014
WARNING SPOILERS! Scroll to see review
This book is about a teenage girl named Brittany who becomes wrapped up in a plot with her grandmas college friends on her summer vacation. Her grandma is great friends with two of her college roommates, one of which is imprisoned in a retirement center by her son so that she doesn't stand in his way while he tries to take her money. Brittany, who just got a license, is forced to drive a rental car with her grandma and roommate in tow to "kidnap" there old college roommate. However, the son backs them all into a corner by planting evidence and making it seem like his mom is senile after the "kidnapping" is committed. Brittnies high school crush saves the day after Brittney utilizes his tech skills to catch the son planting evidence.
I liked the book but I thought it was a little boring and that the plot was to predictable. Halfway into the book they rescue the roomate from the retirement center so you know that the son is going to put up a fight, because if not, the book would be much shorter. But it was overall a good read and I would recommend it to some of my friends.
This book is about a teenage girl named Brittany who becomes wrapped up in a plot with her grandmas college friends on her summer vacation. Her grandma is great friends with two of her college roommates, one of which is imprisoned in a retirement center by her son so that she doesn't stand in his way while he tries to take her money. Brittany, who just got a license, is forced to drive a rental car with her grandma and roommate in tow to "kidnap" there old college roommate. However, the son backs them all into a corner by planting evidence and making it seem like his mom is senile after the "kidnapping" is committed. Brittnies high school crush saves the day after Brittney utilizes his tech skills to catch the son planting evidence.
I liked the book but I thought it was a little boring and that the plot was to predictable. Halfway into the book they rescue the roomate from the retirement center so you know that the son is going to put up a fight, because if not, the book would be much shorter. But it was overall a good read and I would recommend it to some of my friends.
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