Mann’s thin, sometime-scribbly lines and earth-toned colors capture the child’s viewpoint masterfully, and the variety of layouts, from pages full of small vignettes with speech bubbles to spread-spanning landscapes, carries readers through anticipation, humor, and awe in this longer-than-usual picture book/graphic novel hybrid…This delightful trip will be savored again and again.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Sweet pencil illustrations, collaged and painted digitally, appear in a variety of sizes, including some graphic-style panels that employ speech bubbles for dialogue. Beginning readers will enjoy being able to look at a picture and read the camping word placed nearby—camera, hat, swimsuit, pillow, sunglasses—on the endpapers as well as in the story. This title can serve as a manual for children who are about to go camping for the first time or as a remembrance for those who have had that exhilarating adventure.
—Booklist (starred review)
Mann’s skillfully crafted pencil and "digitally collaged and painted" illustrations, in a nicely paced mix of panels, full-page illustrations, and double-page spreads, quietly foster a love for the wilderness while they show how time spent outside can bring families closer. A rare and welcome depiction of an African American family going camping.
—The Horn Book (starred review)
Fans of Alison Farrell’s The Hike will find much to love in this graphic novel–style picture book by Mann (Josie’s Lost Tooth) about Ernestine, a city kid on her first camping trip…Mann wisely refrains from tying up her story with a big ribbon, but readers will understand what Ernestine knows: the world looks different after a wonderful adventure.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
From the car ride to the tent setup, young readers will get a solid foundation in what to expect from camping. A great guide for those heading out on their first outdoor adventure.
—School Library Journal
The sequential collage illustrations pick out the humorous contrasts between Ernestine’s gray-toned points of reference and the full color reality the woods offers. This might be a fine step up to Wissinger’s Gone Camping (BCCB 2/17) for families heading out off on their own summer overnights.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
