Five years.
That’s how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation.
It’s also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash.
Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished―the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box―she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days…without him realizing it.
Along the way, they’ll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there’s Gladys…
Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all…but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after.”
Borrowed from Amazon : "The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise"
My wife was browsing Instagram Tuesday night and came across the bus account True.North.Bus which had a caption about a new book they just came across and fell in love with.
A book about road-tripping in a converted yellow school bus? In an International 3800? THAT’S WHAT WE LIVE IN!
Mary went straight to Amazon to check it out and saw the hardcover was on sale for $11.72. She bought it immediately.
Some books have changed my life tremendously and come around but rarely.
“Into the Wild” in 2007.
”The Alchemist” in 2009.
”Planetwalker” in 2013.
”Ishmael” in 2014.
“5 Love Languages” in 2016.
This is one of those life changing books.
“The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise” in 2019
Two days after ordering the book, it arrived. Mary tore open the packaging, cancelled all her plans, and started reading it immediately.
She started smiling to herself, only two paragraphs into the book. We recently started a fun routine of her reading stories and books to me, because she is a much faster reader than I am. She started reading out loud, until the first chapter was done. We were hooked immediately.
I started working on this article on my laptop in the back bedroom, while Mary continued reading in the living room. Every so often I heard her burst into laughter and a few minutes later heard her sniffle, because she was crying. Then she would laugh again and cry some more. She finished reading it a few hours later.
It is hands down one of the best books we have come across in the last few years. Not too many books have the power to move your soul like the story of Coyote and her dad Rodeo.
“Every mile of the road trip inexorably brings Coyote closer to confronting her past, and its inevitable sadness, but Gemeinhart avoids any sense of mawkishness. He tempers Coyote’s grief with her triumphant growth from a girl whose sole purpose is keeping her father on an even keel to one who realizes that she alone must find, and even fight for, her own happiness.” ―Horn Book
This story hits extremely close to (bus) home. We have not come across ANY stories that relate so much to us, as far as adventuring in a converted school bus is concerned. This is truly a story about US, Bus People, and really solidifies our slogan of “Driving the Miles, Delivering the Smiles.”
Little Free Library #82563 — The SkoolieLove Bus
As a Christmas present to my wife, I registered our little bookcase in the front of our Bus as a “Little Free Library”
The bottom two shelves are some of our personal favorites, and the top shelf is a “Take One — Leave One” for those folks we meet during our travels.
We have multiple copies of Into the Wild, The Alchemist, 5 Love Languages, The Shack, Nickel and Dimed, and The Last Lecture because we absolutely love those books, and recommend them to everyone. After reading about Coyote Sunrise, her dad Rodeo, and the friends they meet along their Bus Life Adventure, we cannot wait to fill up our shelves with as many copies as we can find once people catch onto how amazing this book is.
“Sometimes, when you’re on the road for a long time, and the highway is humming along underneath you and the sun is shining sideways through the windows and the world is blurring by through the glass, something magical happens. No. “Magical” ain’t the right word.
“Magical” feels glittery and fake and cute. This feeling, the one I’m talking about is this: It’s a rising up, like you’re taking flight and leaving the road behind, like you’re in a moment that somehow lifts up free from the rest of your life. In that moment, wherever you just were and wherever you’re about to be don’t matter one little bit; just for a few breaths, you’re everywhere and nowhere, and you can feel your soul touching something big, some kind of truth that’s hidden most of the time.
It’s like the first time you ride a bike: All at once, out of nowhere, the wobbling world settles down to a thrumming harmony, there’s a balance that goes down to your bones, a kind of balance you never knew was there until it came alive all around and inside you; the falling stops and the flying starts and everything just hums, everything just rings true. Its like that, this feeling I’m talking about.”
Quote from Chapter 17, Page 127
I have struggled, as a writer, to come up with the “right” and “perfect” words to explain that kind of feeling. And here it was, coming out of my wife’s mouth, as she read this passage out loud. I teared up, as that kind of moment was written exactly as I had felt it before, driving my own International Skoolie bus. The way the moment came together was perfect. Where had I been? Where was I going? Everywhere and nowhere, as I found a hidden truth.
For Parents and Kids
For all current and soon-to-be Skoolie owners, dreamers, and adventure readers — this book is a must-read. A MUST READ!
For those parents who are un-schooling/Bus Schooling/Home Schooling, is this a book for your kids?
It is advertised as being a kid’s book, written for ages 9 and up. The mom in the story passes away early, and is a main focal point of the story. The idea of losing a parent is going to be a tough subject for your kids. I do think that the story does an amazing job of explaining it, and has an overall happy and wonderful feeling to it.
However, it’s always a great idea to pre-read books like this, to make sure you agree with the message it might give your kids. I would definitely be prepared to have a talk with your child(ren) about questions that might arise about the subject.
Is there a chance you will cry throughout this book? Very likely. It’s a book that will move you.
You will love and cherish this book forever. We promise you that!
We are all Coyote and Rodeo, navigating the road of life, looking to find our own happiness. Some of us believe that doing it in a School Bus will help get us there faster. Well, slower, because it’s a Bus.
Thank you Dan Gemeinhart for writing this story. For learning and having the ability to move us through your writing. We will all be better off for having read your novel.
Make it a wonderful day everyone!
Originally published at www.buslifeadventure.com