My Family Vacation

Tales of a Gambling Grandma , I Want a Dog and Sleepers established varied aspects of Khalsa's gifts: one a fresh-faced satire, the others cheeky looks at more typical childhood concerns. This new work contains a little of each previous work. May relentlessly pursues souvenirs when her family takes a car trip away from northern snows to Florida. She buys postcards and picks up feathers, keeps the pink paper umbrella from her tropical drink and gets a key ring when the family car has to be replaced with a new used car. Her enthusiasm is never disguised by the flat perspectives of the paintings; each one is picture-postcard perfect, in saucy, near-gaudy colors. Captured in miniature is a litany of moments from any family's vacation: siblings slugging each other, the cramped backseat of the car, motels with pools. Those ordinary scenes, in Khalsa's campy style, are thrown into relief and resemble real life all the more by the contrast. Ages 5-8. (September)