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Children's Fiction Railroads & Trains

Ticket to Ride: An Unexpected Journey

by (author) Adrienne Kress

by (artist) David Miles

Publisher
Andrews McMeel Publishing
Initial publish date
Mar 2025
Category
Railroads & Trains, Humorous Stories, Games
Recommended Age
8 to 12
Recommended Grade
3 to 8
Recommended Reading age
8 to 12
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781524884628
    Publish Date
    Mar 2025
    List Price
    $17.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9781524893774
    Publish Date
    Mar 2025
    List Price
    $30.99

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

All aboard the journey of a lifetime! Ticket to Ride is an immensely popular board game where players test their skills in teamwork, strategy, and luck. This new, 100% official, and high stakesTicket to Ride book will whisk readers all throughout the North America, is perfect for fans of all ages, with black-and-white illustrations by artist David Miles and chilling, pulse-pounding prose by bestselling author Adrienne Kress.

To say twelve-year-old Teddy loves trains is an understatement. He is obsessed. He knows everything there is to know about them, has the most amazing model train setup in the basement, and he carries around a classic caboose, a small model of a caboose of a 19th century steam engine that he received as a birthday gift. It’s his good luck charm! So when Teddy wins a Ticket To Ride the Excelsior Express in a writing contest, he can't wait. The Excelsior Express is a train that's modeled to look like it's from the 1920's but is outfitted with a high-tech locomotive system. This will be the train's flagship journey, and it's a dream come true for Teddy. Plus, he'll get to see his grandparents in Los Angeles, and travel all across North America from his hometown of Toronto, Canada.

Wait . . . dream come true?

Or maybe a nightmare.

When the train gets rerouted from Omaha to Pittsburgh, at first, Teddy doesn't think anything of it. Trains get rerouted all of the time. But then the train gets rerouted again. What's more, his lucky caboose is missing.

As it turns out, this ticket to ride takes Teddy, his new friend Olivia, a woman always dressed in yellow named Mina, two traveling musicians named Allie and Dex, and their fellow passengers on an unexpected journey and through some pretty hefty corporate corruption.

Based on the hit board game, Ticket to Ride, author Adrienne Kress weaves fascinating story with adventure in this book that's full of mystery, adventure, and friendship, in a style reminiscent of Lemony Snicket and Roald Dahl. Illustrator David Miles's spot art leaps off the page . . . and onto a train track. Fans of Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and Adrienne's own Bendy and the Ink Machine novels will love this series.

"With a crisp, engaging voice and sharp wit, Adrienne Kress is always a treat to read." - Kelley Armstrong, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author

About the authors

Adrienne Kress is a Toronto-born actor and writer. Her books include the award-winning and internationally published novels Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, Timothy and the Dragon’s Gate, and Hatter Madigan: Ghost in the H.A.T.B.O.X. (with bestselling author Frank Beddor), as well as the steampunk novel The Friday Society and the gothic novel Outcast. She is also the author of the quirky three-book series The Explorers.

Adrienne’s first foray into writing horror came with her work on the Bendy and the Ink Machine novels and, more recently, the Five Nights At Freddy’s interactive novel Return to the Pit, but as an actor she has had the pleasure of being creepy in such horror films as Devil's Mile and Wolves. And she took great pleasure in getting to haunt teenagers in SyFy's Neverknock.

She is also the co-writer and co-producer of the indie horror film The Devil Comes At Night with her husband Scott (though her cat, Atticus, insists on a shared producer credit). Find her at AdrienneKress.com and on Twitter/Instagram @AdrienneKress.

Adrienne Kress' profile page

David Miles' profile page

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