Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Travel Activity Book
Nonfiction Novelty Book
For ages 8 to 10
Lonely Planet Kids, 2019 ISBN: 978-1788684750
Imagine what it would be like to be able to travel around the world. You would see steamy jungles, wide plains, beautiful cities, high mountains, and marvels too numerous to name. You would encounter fascinating people and learn about their culture, society, language, and history.
In this wonderful novelty book, the authors and illustrator take us to North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. In addition to these continents, we also get to find out what life is like on many islands as well. In every place we visit we are given interesting facts about that location, and there is artwork to look it. In addition, we are invited to add stickers to the artwork to complete it, or to make it richer. Often there is another activity to try as well, such as adding a drawing, answering a question, or solving a puzzle.
Our journey begins in North America with a visit to Canada and the USA. In Canada we go to Mount Thor on Baffin Island. This mountain has the steepest cliff in the world. We learn that some people believe that Canada is a “hot spot for monsters,” and we are invited to add stickers to the art to complete the scene that we are given on that page.
In the USA we go to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota where the faces of four presidents are carved into the side of a mountain. We have to unscramble the names of the four men to find out who they are.
Mexico is famous for having many wondrous places to visit, but one of its greatest attractions is not a building or a place of natural beauty. Instead, one of its most amazing marvels is an insect, the monarch butterfly. These remarkable insects leave their forest home in western central Mexico to migrate north to Canada and the United States; 2,500 miles is a long way for a small butterfly to travel. On Mexico page we get to add more butterflies to the artwork.
After finding out a little about Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, we head out into the Caribbean to go to Jamaica, the home of the athlete Usain Bolt. We also go to Haiti, which is famous for its colorfully painted tap-tap buses. We also find out that the islands of Antigua and Barbuda are famous for the wreck of the ship the Andes which lies offshore. After going to Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago, we head to South America. Here we explore ancient desert art, we see the largest rodent in the world, and we try to find our way on the “Bolivian Highway of Death.”
Young people will be able to spend hours exploring and interacting with this book. It will give them a sense of how big and fascinating our world is. They will discover that there is so much to learn when you leave your home country to seek out adventures in other lands. In all there are two hundred and fifty stickers to add to the artwork in this book.
