This book has found a place in my heart and won't be leaving any time soon. Dan Gemeinhart has an amazing knack for creating characters that are both strong and vulnerable, independent and dependent. With strong themes of family and friendship, this book focuses on running away from the past, running towards something more important than the past and how sometimes family becomes the people you meet on your journey.

​Interest Level: 3-6

Do you think it would be fun to have your house be a school bus that was gutted and turned into a home? You could go just about anywhere in the US whenever you want. Fun, right? Well, Coyote Sunrise didn't have a problem with it, at least not until everything changed. Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have been traveling the country for five years, ever since the day her mom and two sisters were killed in a car wreck. Since then Ella has been called Coyote and her dad has been Rodeo. They live life on the road stopping at gas stations and truck stops all over America. Every Saturday Coyote calls her grandmother but everything changed when her grandmother told her that they were going to be bulldozing the playground next to their old house. Coyote knows that she has to get back home to a memory box that her, her mom, and her sisters buried five years earlier, just five days before their death. The problem is that going home is a no-go for Rodeo so she is going to have to trick him. She knows she only has a few days to get across the country so she has to rely on the help of strangers to help. Along the way they take on these people (and even a couple of animals) who need help themselves getting to where they need to go. Little do they all know that they would become a family on that bus and they will all do whatever it takes to get Coyote to that memory box on time. Can they overcome a broken brake line, someone being left behind at a gas station, Rodeo finding out the truth, and multiple police? Will Coyote be able to make it back to her home town of Poplin Springs in time to save her memory box? Will Rodeo and Coyote ever be the same again? Read this amazingly incredible story of family, friends, love, loss, and one incredible journey!

All I can say about this story is WOW! There are not many stories that will have you laughing and crying over and over again. I want so bad to be on that bus with this incredible group of people (and animals). I wanted so bad to get some pom-poms and and cheer this group the whole way across the country. This is a Newbery Award winning book waiting to happen. Do! Not! Miss! This! Book!!!!!!!

Phew! I am a hot mess! I just finished this beautifully heartbreaking book. I cried, ugly cried throughout. Coyote and her father are on a journey on a school bus. They pick up many people along the way. Each character contributes greatly to the storyline. As I sit here and write this review, I ponder what the theme was? Family? Kindness? Family is what you make of it? A good books make you feel. A great book has you gasping, laughing or crying out loud. I shed many tears while reading this book.
I teach grade 3. I think it is a little too mature for that grade but definitely for mature fourth graders and above. Beautiful. Beautiful. Dan Gemeinhart hit it out of the park yet again. Don’t miss this one.

I fell in love with Coyote from page one. This story sucked me in and I did not want to put this book down. Character after character, I loved them all. What a great middle grade story! Dan Gemeinhart's books are all huge hits in my elementary library and this one is sure to be as well.