All the Way to Mexico — Norma Charles

Jacob Armstrong is 12 and he's on a honeymoon. The honeymoon is his mother's. Accompanying them are her new husband, Fred Finkle, and Fred's annoying kids, ten-year-old Barney and eight-year-old Sam, and Jacob's rebellious 15-year-old sister, Minerva. They're heading from Vancouver through Portland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, all the way to Mexico in a pale blue 1982 Mercury Montego station wagon. So begins Norma Charles's funny and thoughtful new novel for kids â€" especially boys â€" ages 8 to 13. Each child has a different strategy for getting through the trip: Barney tells nonstop cow jokes; Sam invents his own world with action figures; Minerva is permanently plugged into her CD player. And Jacob? He hugs his soccer ball, hoping one day to become a star player. When they finally arrive in Mexico, the family stays in a tourist trap without a single soccer game. How will he survive? Eventually the new family not only survives, but develops bonds that pull them closer together in this sweet story told from Jacob's wry perspective.