A Summer Road Trip in 6 Books: TX, NM, UT, AZ, CO, & OK

Texas: The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly
For this road trip, we’re starting in Texas and heading west. To be even more precise, we’re starting in a small Texas town in 1899, complete with county fairs and unusually hot summers. Eleven-year-old Calpurnia Tate is surrounded by boys—namely her six brothers. She’s noticed that her parents’ (and society’s) expectations for her are different than they are for her brothers, and she doesn’t like it. She does like science and research, though, and she finds a kindred spirt in her grandpa, who never expected to share his love of the scientific method with his only granddaughter. This is a book full of expectations thrust upon characters, and how those characters struggle under the weight of them.

New Mexico: Tortilla Sun, by Jennifer Cervantes
From Texas, we’ll head east, and one (very) long drive through Texas later, we’ll find ourselves in New Mexico—just like Izzy in Tortilla Sun after she’s sent to stay with her grandmother in a small village in New Mexico. Izzy’s father, who passed away before she was born, has remained a mystery to her, and she plans to use this visit to her parent’s native village as an opportunity to find answers. Magical realism elements fill the setting with wonder, and the breathtaking New Mexico landscape sets the perfect backdrop for this story about loss, family, and belonging.

Arizona: If That Breathes Fire, We’re Toast!, by Jennifer J. Stewart
From New Mexico, you can continue west straight into Arizona, where we can pick up If That Breaths Fire, We’re Toast! for a story about new beginnings in The Grand Canyon State. Twelve-year-old Rick Morales has also just arrived to Arizona after moving with his mother from San Diego. He’s unhappy about the move at first, but new friends and the discovery of a 500-year-old dragon quickly turn things around for him. This early chapter book will keep younger kids laughing as Rick and his friend Natalie attempt to keep the dragon, Madam Yang, happy.

Utah: Summerlost, by Ally Condie
After Arizona, take a turn north for Utah. Summerlost is an obvious pick for the trip since the town the story is set in (Iron Creek, Utah) is inspired by the writer’s hometown of Cedar City, Utah. The first middle grade novel from bestselling author Ally Condie, the story follows Cedar as she deals with the recent death of her father and younger brother. In an effort to escape, her mother has just bought the family a summer home in Iron Creek, home to the famous Summerlost theater festival, and Cedar has no idea what she’s going to do for the summer—until she gets a job at Summerlost. The distraction proves welcome, and Cedar and her pal Leo even decide to open a secret side business, giving tours around one of the most famous actresses to come out of Iron Creek and Summerlost. This honest story about grief and loss is balanced with the quirky theater backdrop, leaving readers feeling hopeful.

Colorado: Fear Place, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
From Utah, you’re going to start heading east (back towards Texas), taking a stop in Colorado. For your trip to the Centennial State, you can pick up Fear Place, with an at times beautiful and also scary backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. When Gordon and Doug’s parents are called back home to Boston in the midst of their three-week camping trip, they decide to let the boys stay and continue. But as the two start bickering and things begin to go wrong, they quickly find that they must work together if they’re to survive their camping trip.

Oklahoma Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse
And the final stop on your road trip before arriving back where you started is Oklahoma, the Sooner State. To get a sense of Oklahoma’s history, pick up the Newbery Medal winning novel Out of the Dust, which takes place during the dust bowl era of rural Oklahoma. At the height of Oklahoma’s worst dust storms and during the Depression, life on an Oklahoma farm was hard, to say the least. But the talented and thoughtful Billy Jo tells her story in stanza form, vividly painting a picture of a girl facing untold bleakness and finding an inner strength to carry on. It’s a powerful story, with some heart-wrenching moments that make it best suited for more mature young readers.