4-8 years
no awards were found

Just us women describes a weekend trip of a girl and her aunt.

I have mixed feelings about this book, mostly leaning towards not liking it. I enjoyed reading it because the illustrations were well done and had so much detail in them that I could really picture the story in my mind. However my hesitation with this book is that I feel I did not get anything from it. To me there was no obvious plot; no conflict, no realization, just a road-trip. From the repetition of the phrase "Just Us Women", I was expecting there to be more of a tie in about some sort of female empowerment moment, or quite literally any other tie in. Sadly, one never came and I found myself confused and disappointed at the end. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book. I liked the illustrations in the book, I felt that the facial expressions drawn on the characters really illustrated how they were feeling and helped develop the tone of the story. But I didn't like the plot of the story. I didn't feel that the book really went anywhere; I did not pick up on any conflict, rising/falling action, etc. It kind of felt as though the story just was, there was no end goal. I believe the message of this story was the power of female relationships, especially those between family members. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book because it reminded me of some of my own experiences. However, I thought the plot could have been developed a bit further. As previously said, this book and its characters are very realistic and easy to relate to. Like many people have done, the young girl and her Aunt Martha are planning a road trip; making lists, studying maps, packing lunches, and triple-checking everything. The illustrations of this book are exceptional and add so much detail to the story, my favorite example being on page 17. On this page are different family members (intentionally not invited on the road trip) showing their frustration and dislike for stopping on road trips. The illustration clearly shows hands waving in the air, heads shaking, and hands moving from hips to a scornful point. This was something I found very interesting because it is not common that i see an artist capture movement so well, and it really enhances why the girl and her Aunt chose to travel alone; for freedom to stop wherever and whenever they please. I think the bigger idea of this book is to stop and look at the flowers-- to enjoy the journey not just the destination. ( )