A Long Way

by Katherine Ayres

A little girl takes some intriguing conveyances on a flight of fancy to her grandmother’s house - with the help of a big empty box and a very active imagination

A gift for Grandma arrives one fine day, and her young granddaughter is
eager to deliver it by hand. Grandma’s house may be just a hop, skip, and
a jump away, but to the girl it seems a long way, and it certainly takes a
special kind of creativity to get there. A spare text and abundantly descriptive illustrations guide this elaborate journey into a child’s world of make-believe.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Katherine Ayres is the author of ten books for children and teenagers. She lives in Pittsburgh, PA where she teaches writing to graduate students and Chatham University.

At age 19 she appeared on the TV show, To Tell the Truth--as a liar. "It was good practice for becoming a fiction writer," she says. "These days I have to make up stuff all the time. And I like it!"

Then, as now, Ayres was a convincing story spinner--members of the panel believed her impersonation as young readers believe and enjoy her characters today.

To get to know Katherine better, visit her website (www.katherineayres.com) and her blog (katherineayres.blogspot.com).

Reviews

[Viviane Elbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a good book for beginner readers to read since it has large text and few words.

It's a story about a long (make-believe) journey. A little girl uses her box (car, boat, airplane, subway) to go deliver a gift to grandma (who lives next door).

At the end of the book the author mentions it was written about a real trip, but the illustrator turned it into a "play" trip.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet and very simple.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet but simple story. The illustrations really make it shine, though. So charming! This is "Christina Katerina and the Box"-lite ;-)

[Addie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations. 2 year old liked it

[Kerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are many books that feature a child using a box for a variety of purposes in their dramatic play ( Not a Box, The Birthday Box, The Big Brown Box). This one, about a girl using a box as several different vehicles to get to her grandmother's house, is just okay. The illustrations are sweet, but at times confuse the story. The first page shows shows a cushy chair and table outside on the lawn under a tree, then the title page shows a box being delivered. This lead my 4 year old to think that the family is moving. From there, the story is just a bit flat, as her box transforms from a car, to a boat, to a turtle, to an airplane (where she appears to actually be in the air, whereas the other illustrations are more realistic dramatic play) before she arrives at her grandmother's.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short but sweet book about a little girl who has a surprise for her grandmother, and has to travel "a long way" to get the large gift from her home to Grandma's next door. The little girl, along with her animal friends, travel by "car", then by "boat", next by "airplane", and finally by "subway" - all from the depths of her imagination.

This is a simple story that is very simply worded. I felt that the lack of sentence structure combined with the rich pictures made it a bit lopsided; it was too simple for my 5-year-old, but yet too complex for my 19-month-old. This book is probably best suited for a young preschooler, but it's a nice example of the many places that an imagination can take a young child, if given the chance.

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would not be suitable for read aloud, but I think it would be great to use with exceptional children, ELL learners, and even kindergarten students to help with letter recognition. The words are in big letters for the students to see and it would be a good book for small group or individual learning.

[Taryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it. Love the illustration style, love the simple story, love the family relations, love the imagination presented. I especially love that the storyline starts on the frontpages--even before the title page.

[Thia]

box, journey, mail

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

despite busy pictures, the book catches with its simple story. girl living next door to granny incorporates her imagination to make a box a variety of vehicles to propel her next door.

[SARAH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah, the joys of the big cardboard box...

[Lindsay]

boxes

[Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute. Imaginative illustrations and concept. Seemed to be a bit too short or simple or something.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Tricia Tusa's illustrations.

[Yolanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple text with beautiful illustrations.