Are We There Yet?: A Modern American Family's Cross-Country Adventure

What do one van, two parents, three children, seven weeks, 28 states and 10,000 miles add up to? The answer is Are We There Yet? A Modern American Family's Cross-Country Adventure, a new trade paperback (including a downloadable Web travel guide) by Bill Lohmann, an award-winning feature writer and columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The author, who writes about family issues for the newspaper, suggested he cover a real family cross-country vacation for the Times-Dispatch and his editors agreed to the idea. With boundless joviality, common sense (including what not to do), fun facts particularly useful Web sites and family members' take on various sites the articles became a practical, upbeat book, proof positive that Lohmann's harebrained idea was really a mastermind's scheme in disguise and that every family that's game should do the same. ( May 10)