All Aboard the Grandparents Express

When Poppy moves to Texas with her family, leaving her beloved grandparents behind, she decides to take matters into her own hands and invent a way for everyone to be together when it matters most. Luckily, she has her trusty unicorn and her worrisome but steadfast brontosaurus to help. With magic, imagination and a lot of love, Poppy just might be able to make Texas home.

All Aboard the Grandparents Express is charming, whimsical, and utterly endearing. I love the intrepid Poppy, her sweet brother Jack, and their winsome imaginations. This story about finding home is a delight.

-Emily Bain Murphy, author of The Disappearances and the Lightseekers trilogy

I was charmed by All Aboard the Grandparents Express from the start! The story’s imaginative narrator invites the reader into her world with irresistible sweetness and sensitivity. Little readers and their grown-ups will love this gem of a book, especially those who can relate to a family move, saying goodbye to loved ones, and welcoming a new baby into the house.

-Katie Wray Schon, author and illustrator of Painting Wonder: How Pauline Baynes Illustrated the Worlds of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

This delightful story is equal parts whimsical and wise. Mueller guides families through trials and change with honesty, grace, and more than a little magic. This story beautifully captures the voice and inner world of its eight-year-old narrator. In doing so, it gives the daunting adventure of moving away from family the gravity it deserves. This book finds wonder and joy in making a new friend and inventing a magical train using cardboard and imagination. It finds appropriate sorrow in faraway grandparents and an unfamiliar house. And it has the good sense not to question the reality of beloved unicorn and dinosaur friends. Both parents and children will find strength, insight, and joy in this story.

-Matthew Mellema, author of Red Rex

A grand adventure! Mueller masterfully overlays the perfect amount of fantasy onto reality as she captures childlike wonder while weaving in valuable life lessons of friendship, family, and faith. She beautifully depicts the imagination and voice of childhood in her relatable characters. This story reminds us all (especially us grown-ups) that magic is truly all around us in places and people both big and small. We just need to remind each other how and where to look.

-Melody Trowell, author of The Girl Whose Frown Shook the Ground