Amazon.in:Customer reviews: Clean Getaway

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Monet

Possibly some spoilers read with caution

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 1 August 2020

This book was great, but in the end there were so many things that I wanted to know. I wanted to know did Scoob's Dad ever learn the truth about his own dad and his mother. I wondered whatever happened to the bully at school and whatever happened with scoob and Shenice. Maybe a book 2??? So many questions. But overall, this was a great pick for our family book club, packed with historical references that are just enough to peak your interests. And a story that crosses generational and racial gaps. Scoob is an endearing, loveable character that wants to do right but in wanting to fit in and in trying to protect friends doesn't always make the best choices. I wonder if Nic Stone would make a series focused on Scood and his friends. There were also some nice illustrations throughout to keep the kids engaged.

3 people found this helpful

Kaitlyn Compton

Incredible book!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 6 October 2022

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Incredible book! As an adult I thoroughly enjoyed it and didn’t expect some twists!

ArikB

Great Book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 12 August 2020

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I read this book because I gave it to my godson as a birthday gift. I wanted to know what it was about to talk about after he read it. The book is excellent even for an adult. Interspersing important events in the civil rights era in a story with a good plot was extremely well done. Birmingham church bombing, Medgar Evers, Ruby Bridges, and the discussions on racism were phenomenal. I recommend this book to kids who don't know much about the Civil Rights era. Very well done!

tomora

Great for young readers

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 28 April 2021

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This was good read for my 5th grader and one I hoped he relates to. He is a little black boy with a white grandma and the go RVing every summer. I love how Nic Stone adds some black history in the book without making it boring and puts it in casual conversation. Its like leaving bread crumbs for when they hear the names or events later.
I recommend this book for anyone with young readers between 4-6th grade.

Laura D. Charpentier

Outstanding, engaging, and educational.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 19 September 2021

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We are loving this book in my fifth grade class. The kids are so into it, they applaud after every route/chapter. They don’t understand all the historical references just yet, but we will dig into those throughout the year. Absolutely a pleasure to read!

2 people found this helpful

Alvina G

G'Ma & Scoob a doob adventuring

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 16 August 2020

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I love the history and the way the story leads up to, bit by bit, what the Grandma is up to. I like how the son, William aka Scoob, has to endure a trip that will be one he never forgets. I like how the dad has to face how he's treated his son, hopefully giving them the chance to be better. This was a fun story. Highly recommend

ricardo is reading

A Clean Getaway Indeed

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 13 February 2020

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Clean Getaway tells the story of William "Scoob" Lamar, an eleven year old black kid, and G'ma, his white grandmother, and the road trip they embark upon across the American South. A trip for which they have their own motives: Scoob leaves behind serious punishment following a school suspension, and a severe father whose severity only increases after said suspension. He just wants to get away from it all and clear his head. G'ma wants to show Scoob places where history has been made — but also to deal with some unfinished business from her past. Issues that cause her to act increasingly erratic and shady.⠀
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It's a great premise (love me a road trip tale), but I felt the story just didn't live up to its potential. Scoob at times felt like a real and modern kid, dealing with things while still trying to keep his cool, while at others he seemed too unrealistically passive. His G'ma's strange behavior introduces a mystery in the first few chapters of the novel, which is an effective way to hook a reader — having the main character endlessly wonder about said mystery without actually doing anything about it for the remainder of the books is an equally effective way of losing one. But it's the character of G'ma that I found the most problematic. She started off fine — quirky and goofy and lovable. As someone who grew up watching The Golden Girls, I love seeing elderly women as main characters. As the story went on, however, and her eccentricity increased, she just made me uncomfortable. Which I get is sort of the point. Scoob grows more and more suspicious of his grandmother, and we are supposed to be on the same page as him. Only there's no real actual payoff to this. ⠀
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Look — this is a story that deals largely with racism. A theme that is explored almost exclusively through the eyes of this old white woman, who lived through the civil rights movement as the wife of a black man, in a place where this sort of relationship was still largely frowned upon. There's a wealth of subjects to explore, and Stone does an admirable job with what she does delve into. But then we finally learn the secret she's been keeping and how it affected her family, and it's quite a bombshell. You're left wondering how the rest of her family will deal with the shock waves. But it's all ultimately brushed off, the aftermath left to the margins of the story. G'ma is given a simple send-off, and the consequences of her actions are never properly explored. Which is a shame, really. G'ma is a character that is deeply loved and idolized (and idealized) by her grandson and her son. Nic Stone wrote that this was a novel about finding out your heroes are human — flawed to a fault. It just would have been nice to actually see what that entailed right on the page. Clean getaway, indeed.
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But while the overall concept didn't work for me, there were still aspects I really enjoyed: this is a fast, fun read, full of interesting facts that I suspect will lead young readers down interesting, awareness-increasing rabbit holes, and that can only be a good thing. Nic Stone's prose has a few missteps (it sometimes falls into that common and condescending trap of writing simple for a simple audience), but it is mostly clear and sharp. This is the writer's first foray into middle-grade fiction, though, and I'm sure she can only get better from here.

21 people found this helpful

D. Richardson

Good story, but hard reading for kids

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 23 October 2022

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This is an interesting book and a good story for kids. This book is targeted at 8-12 years olds. I tried reading it with my 8 year old and is no way she could understand some of the punctuation used in this book. I'm a published author (journals and magazines, not books) and I had trouble reading some of the passages in the book. This kind of writing is just unnecessary, particularly in a book targeted at this age range.

This is from page 3, referring to a grandmother's laugh:

'Dad's not a fan; says it "grates" on him because it's the one reminder of of G'ma's past smoking days "and potential future lung cancer," but it reminds Scoob of elementary school days playing card games she taught him that he wasn't supposed to know the rules for - like Texas Hold'em and Blackjack.'

An 8 year old is expected to unwind this. Regardless of the story a book has to be readable by the intended audience. A semi colon, a dash, two quotes, and a comma in one sentence. And a reference to lung cancer and Texas Hold'em. How could an 8 year old have any idea what this is trying to say?

2 people found this helpful

Faith (Stilllookingood58)

Nice way to present historical events

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 17 September 2020

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I liked this book because of the way it presented some important historical events. I also loved the grandmother though she looked much older than I would have imagined her to be considering his age. Due to the characterization by the illustrator I did not get that she was caucasian right away either. But I do love that Nic had a child and an elder spending time together. Much more of that is needed.

Amanda Keller

Several occurrences of foul word

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 9 September 2020

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This was part of the Amazon book club for my oldest. (11) The book has a location called “Damn Yankees.” We try to limit our children’s exposure to inappropriate language and he wanted to stop reading after that name was mentioned twice. I am sure it is a good book but I feel amazon should be careful about including books in their monthly subscriptions that include foul language.

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