Rating: 
Summary: Traveling with kids is different!
Review: I ate it up in 2 nights. It was great to read about traveling with kids, who have their own perspectives and don't care what the guidebook says. The "we took a year off" part was interesting, but the fun part was finding out what the kids liked and why. The humor is welcome. This will make a great gift to parents.
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Summary: On the Road Family-style
Review: Given the pressures on most American families these days, who hasn't thought about chucking it all -- the morning rush to get everyone out the door to school and work, the afternoon rush to get different kids to different activities, the evening rush through an "instant" dinner, homework, a little TV perhaps, then bed only to start the whole process all over again early the next morning? David Cohen has written an inspirational book. It is useful for those actually considering following him and his family's footsteps down the global pathway but it also teaches important lessons about the value of being together as a family. Even families who never travel farther than Disney World can come away from this book with a renewed appreciation of the essential value of overcoming hardships, facing up to challenges, finding ways to have fun and learn without a lot of "things" and just spending time together. After reading this book, one is tempted to get rid of the big mortgage, the SUV, the electronic toys, and all the other accumulated stuff that weighs us down and keeps us apart, and take off on a journey of discovering each other, even if that journey begins right in our own backyard. My only small criticism: It would have been nice to hear more from David's wife Devyani, who does, reading between the lines, seem to play an essential role keeping it all together, and the kids who must have made many wonderful kid-discoveries along the way as well. Hopefully, David Cohen will give us more of that in his next book, which we eagerly await.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this all there is?
Review: The idea behind David Cohen's One Year Off is either wildly appealling or profoundly horrifying; he and his family got rid of everything - house, cars, jobs, presumably even their dogs (something that irked me quite a bit) - packed up the husband, wife, three kids, and babysitter, and went around the world. My reaction to this endeavor was that, crazy or brilliant, it *had* to produce an interesting story. And reading One Year Off, you do get the feeling that that story is there. But Cohen doesn't tell it.What Cohen gives readers instead is email. From various points in the trip, he sent email to his friends and family back home, and after he got back he collated them into One Year Off. And while I'm sure the updates were engaging and interesting to his email list - who wants to read a chapter-long email about someone else's adventures? - they just aren't sufficient for a book. Huge gaps are left in the tale (near the end of the book, nearly six months of the year off disappear, with no email updates or interpolation from Cohen) and lots of the details that stay-at-homes would find fascinating don't appear. The chatty, superficial style of the writing is fine for email, but it leaves readers with slightly less than half a story. The book even *looks* like an insufficient essay; the hardcover edition has wide leading and kerning and big margins and font - all the Freshman English Essay Extender tricks, but in book format. Even more frustrating, Cohen doesn't appear to understand where his real story lies, in the family interactions and family experience of travel. The real hero of the book, it emerges from between the lines, is his wife, who copes heroically and competently with their adventures. (Devyani does most of the planning and takes most of the responsibility. Cohen makes most of the mistakes. When a kid gets damaged or lost, it always happens in Cohen's care. When someone has a breakdown or snaps, it's usually Cohen.) But we hear relatively little about Devyani, and not much about the kids, either. Instead, Cohen chooses to write about mostly his own reactions to fairly commonplace destinations - France, Italy, Australia - as though he were producing a Fodor's Guide instead of a travel memoir. In short, the idea of the book is fascinating, so much so that it is well worth reading, even as it is. I love the idea of someone else packing up his family and going around the world - then telling me about it so I don't have to *do* it. I just wish that a different author had had that idea, had taken this trip. The book would've been marvelous in the hands of a writer who was a more careful observer, and who was willing to write a little more.
Rating: 
Summary: Stick With Photography
Review: While Cohen has extensive publishing experience as a photo editor, his writing lacks the style and grace that could make this family adventure come to life for readers. His writing seems forced. This could have been a great magazine article, or maybe next time, he could just publish a book of photos.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for armchair travelers!
Review: Absolutely delightful book about the year Cohen and his wife quit their jobs, sold their house, and took their three children (9, 7, and 2) on a year-long adventure around the world. Not only is Cohen a great writer when it comes to description of foreign places and sights (I totally want to go to Costa Rica now), but he's also very funny. The two elements combine to make this a very charming book. I heartily recommend it, though I suspect if I were a parent myself, I would've been more horrified than amused at some of the situations they got into. You might want to take that into consideration!
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Summary: The Academy Class review
Review: My review of One Year Off is offered to those of you in the teaching profession as a way incorporate something new and exciting into the classroom literature. I work with "at-risk" students and at the risk of trying to engage them, I selected this book to envelope the minds of these bright, but busy students to venture on a journey with the Cohens around the world. I spent the first five months of school working on a roots report with the class. This report involved each student studying a country where their ancestors were from and compiling months worth of information. As a culminating project, we began to read this novel and learn even more about every country that we studied for our roots report. However, this new information took us to more exciting places to travel and visit. I found the students to be intrigued at the very same moment Kara and Willie were, as well as protective of Lucas as they read with wonder what would happen next. I also pulled my vocabulary lists from this book for several weeks. Although the vocabulary was very difficult for the 4th and 5th graders, it challenged them and developed skills such as using context clues and finding anologies on a regular basis. Overall, I have chosen to travel the Cohen's route from Paris, France through Italy this summer. It is a good travel guide as well. Thank you for sharing your exciting lives with others.
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Summary: One Year Off : Leaving It All Behind for a Round-The-World J
Review: For anyone that loves to travel, this book is for you. I agree with some of the other comments about this book, I would have preferred more details, they talk about being in Costa Rica but don't give you all the details, that you could follow them along their journey. I thought their account of South Africa was very interesting also. This is definitely a book for those that love to travel but can't do so currently, you are allowed to do it vicariously.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, but Club Med-ish in its approach to the world
Review: As a San Francisco resident planning to take a similar trip in five years, I was especially interested in David Cohen's story. The book is extremely enjoyable, funny, and frustrating at the same time. The simplistic e-mail style of writing works well for a light read, but I often hoped the author would add deeper meaning or insight to an experience. At least he didn't pepper the text with LOLs and smilies, I suppose. Traveling primarily by plane and car, instead of by trains and buses, the family has little chance to become immersed in the local culture; in some places, they seem to barricade themselves from the locals instead of trying to sort out just how fearful they need to be. And where are all the stories of the kids becoming friends with the local children? So, although I thought the book was fun, and I will read it to my three, it was frustrating in its documentation of missed chances to really learn.
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: When I came home from the bookstore with this book in tow, my husband groaned...not again! We've been a fortunate family who has had the luxury of travelling with our daughter, Meighen - 3yrs, twice in one year to international locales such as continental Europe (5 countries in 9 days) and remote Mexico for the Millennium. It was inspirational to dream of expanding our travels further throughout the world, and to get our travel 'training' from those who've already done it. A light, funny read for armchair and airline travellers alike.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: What a wonderful book! A remarkable family's adventurous journey full of love and humor.
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