Summer in the City (Travels with My Family) - Hardcover

"Summer in the City works as an easy transition for kids making the step up from picture books."--Quill and Quire

..".this volume is made even livelier and more enjoyable by the numerous pen-and-ink/watercolour illustrations that have made Marie-Louise Gay such a recognized name in Canadian children's literature."--Montreal Gazette

"An upbeat summer idyll likely to draw chuckles whether read alone or aloud."--Kirkus
"Was this supposed to be a change? No way. We lived here every day of the year. I knew every detail by heart . . . A vacation means going, not staying."
-- from the book

Charlie can’t wait for school to be over. But he’s wondering what particular vacation ordeal his parents have lined up for the family this summer. Canoeing with alligators in Okefenokee? Getting caught in the middle of a revolutionary shootout in Mexico? Or perhaps another trip abroad?

Turns out, this summer the family is staying put, in their hometown. Montreal, Canada. A staycation,” his parents call it. Charlie is doubtful at first but, ever resourceful, decides that there may be adventures and profit to be had in his own neighborhood.

And there are. A campout in the backyard brings him in contact with more than one kind of wildlife, a sudden summer storm floods the expressway, various pet-sitting gigs turn almost-disastrous, and a baseball game goes awry when various intruders storm the infield — from would-be medieval knights and an over-eager ice-cream vendor to a fly-ball-catching Doberman.

Then of course there’s looking after his little brother, Max, who is always a catastrophe-in-the-making.