Book Club Guide for A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation
A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation
By Pablo Cartaya
For Ages 8-12
Genre: Realistic Fiction
After his father’s death, Gonzalo is forced to spend the summer with his grumpy grandfather, a famous author about to release the final book in his mega-popular fantasy series for kids. Together, they take a road trip from Mendocino, CA, to Miami, FL, to launch a book tour, learn that processing grief looks different for everyone, and discover what it means to be there for their family. A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation by Pablo Cartaya includes themes of grief, family relationships, family heritage, and self-discovery through art and humor. Use these discussion questions, activities, snacks, and read-alikes during your next book club to explore this humorous and sweet story with readers.
Discussion Questions
Get participants engaging with these discussion questions. Need more? See The Youth Desk’s Book Clubs page.
- What do you think of the cover? Did the illustration of the character impact how you saw them as you read the story?
- Gonzalo wonders if the first book in his grandfather’s series is a “window book” or a “mirror story” (p. 37). Do you think a book can be both? Was this book a window or a mirror story for you? Could you see yourself in it?
- The narrator says, “leaving your comfort zone can have its benefits” (p. 51). What do you think that means? Is it true? Can you think of a real-world example? Is there a time you left your comfort zone and benefited from it?
- Did you like the narrator breaking the 4th wall and talking directly to you? Did it make the story better or not?
- Is there an author you’d be as excited to meet as the readers are to meet Gonzalo’s grandfather?
- Pop quiz: Name the cities Gonzalo stops at on his road trip. (Mendocino, Salt Lake City, Grand Island, Kansas City, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, Key West)
- Have you visited any of those locations? What did you think of them?
- Gonzalo wonders, “Who gets to decide what something means-the creator of the art or the ones experiencing the creation?” (p. 178). What do you think?
- Gonzalo realizes he’s never asked his grandfather about their culture and Cuban heritage (p. 181). Have you ever asked your grandparents or an older relative about your heritage and culture? Where are your families from originally? What does your heritage mean to you?
- Have you read any of Pablo Cartaya’s other books? According to his website, four of his books are set in the same world and share some characters. Do you know which characters from A Hero’s Guide appear in another one of his books?
Snacks
Licorice!
Gonzalo’s grandfather keeps licorice in the glove compartment of his car and tells Gonzalo, “it helps with nausea” as they drive along California’s winding Pacific Coast Highway (p. 53). Other foods from the story include:
- Pizza is ordered to their motel room one night (p. 173).
- Ribs for breakfast in Kansas City (p. 183).
- Mint chocolate chip ice cream is what Gonzalo gets when he visits an ice cream shop with Emilia in Georgia (p. 193).
- Cafe con leche with oat milk, Cuban toast with butter, and ham croqueta at the Cuban Restaurant in Atlanta (p. 213).
Extension Activities
Gonzalo Style Landscape Art
Provide printouts of various landscapes along with markers and challenge attendees to draw over them to make something new – as Gonzalo does on his iPad! For example, Gonzalo draws monsters crawling out of a lake, zombies overruning the highway (p. 83), and a chicken blowing fire like Godzilla over Nashville (p. 210).
Map the Stops
Provide attendees with blank maps of the United States and challenge them to star the locations Gonzalo, his grandfather, and his mother stop on their road trip. Bonus points if the map also includes Cuba, and they can accurately identify it!
Read-Alikes
If your readers loved A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation, they’ll also enjoy:
