Follow the red canoe from page to page as it journeys down river carrying the family on a camping tour. It's the next best thing to paddling it yourself.

Mother, Aunt Rosie, and two children make a three-day camping trip by canoe.

An old red canoe believes its best days are behind it and reminisces on past summers' adventures with a beloved boy until the boathouse door creeks open with the possibility for new adventures.

"No boys and no men-just us women," Aunt Martha tells her niece. And together they plan their trip to North Carolina in Aunt Martha's brand-new car. This is to be a very special outing-with no one to hurry them along, the two travelers can do exactly as they please.

Opening this book is like sitting down in a canoe, taking up a paddle, and gliding out into the summer beauty of a hidden lake. In this picture book that is as refreshing and inviting as a perfect canoe day, a fawn peeks out from the trees as ducklings fan out behind their mother. Butterflies pause and fish laze beneath the lily pads. Ruth Wright Paulsen’s sunlit paintings and Gary Paulsen’s poetic text capture all the peace and pleasure of a day when water and sky are one.