Why We Took the Car

Wolfgang Herrndorf

Mike doesn't get why people think he's boring. Sure, he doesn't have many friends. (OK, zero friends.) And everyone laughs at him when he reads his essays out loud in class. And he's never invited to parties.

But one day Tschick, the odd new boy at school, shows up at Mike's house out of the blue. He dares him to go on a road trip with him. No parents, no map, no destination. Will they get hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere? Probably. Will they meet crazy people and get into serious trouble? Definitely. But will they ever be called boring again?

Not a chance.

'You will see the world with different eyes after reading this novel' Rolling Stone

Winner of the German Teen Literature Prize

Reviews

"You will see the world with different eyes after reading this novel"
Rolling Stone

"Exhilarating and hilarious... Why We Took the Car has definite potential for cult status"
Observer

"Insightful and funny"
Philip Ardagh - Guardian

"Enjoyably offbeat"
Irish Times

"Herndorff finds a fresh, ever-inventive and exuberant peculiarity in the world just beyond the windscreen, as well as a soul-deep empathy in his characters... As a writer myself, it's the kind of book I wish I'd written."
Keith Gray, The Scotsman