Travel the world this summer (even if you can’t afford the plane tickets)
by Jamie Martin
Reading Time:
4 minutes
Having a British husband comes with perks, let me tell ya. There’s the accent, the tea, the extended family, and the need to travel regularly to visit them!
The first time we took our whole family to England in 2012, my kids were nine, eight, and seven. We went again last year, and we’re saving up now to go back in 2018.
We’ve craned our necks upward looking at York Minster and Big Ben, floated down the Thames and under Tower Bridge, toured Beatrix Potter’s house in the Lake District, and kept our eyes peeled for Merry Men while exploring the real Sherwood Forest.
It sounds kind of glamorous, doesn’t it?
But it wasn’t always that way. Back in the day as a young mom, I had a four-, three-, and two-year-old. Three children with less than two years separating them in age has some advantages, but at that time I didn’t know what they were!
I do recall lovely, sloppy kisses, lots of crying (from both me and kids), toddler giggles, sleep deprivation, and the urgent need to bring a sense of peace to the four walls we lived within.
I wasn’t thinking about the next global excursion we would take, that I can assure you. We had money to live on, but that was about it, and a bad airplane experience (cue the nonstop screaming) with my two infant boys flying from Texas to North Carolina left me anything but eager to sign up for that again!
Yet I needed to find some way to explore the world. Why?
Well, those three gorgeous children of mine hail from three separate continents:
- my biological son, Jonathan, born in Texas;
- my son Elijah, adopted as an infant from Liberia, West Africa; and
- my daughter Trishna, who joined our family at the age of four from India.
Add my husband Steve and me to the picture and that makes five people from four countries. As survival mode faded away and the kids became a little older, I felt an urgency to incorporate the cultures of the world into our home, since God had literally knit our family together from the ends of the earth.
And I found a cheap and mostly stress-free way to do it: books.
It started with Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World. I remember my littles flipping through its colorful pages, looking at children just like them!
Later we went through a season where I read one or two pages aloud every day, discovering with each one turned a new family somewhere in the world. We needed more of that in our lives, which sent me on a library hunt like no other.
Along the way we stumbled upon more treasured titles, and used our imaginations to set foot in foreign lands, even when our wallets couldn’t afford the trip.
A few of my favorites:
- Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke (Africa)
- Biblioburro: A True Story by Jeanette Winter (Colombia)
- Elizabeth: Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox (New Zealand)
- The Journey that Saved Curious George by Louise W. Borden (France)
- Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska & Daniel Mizielinski (Everywhere!)
And that’s how I began researching and writing a resource we all can use to do the same: Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time.
More than just a book to read once and return to the shelf, this is a title you can use with your children all the way from ages 4 to 12!
It’s a reading treasury including over 600 of the best kids’ book recommendations from around the world, featuring carefully curated reading lists organized by region, country, and age range.
One of my childhood heroes, LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow fame, has called Give Your Child the World, “an invaluable resource for any and everyone who has children in their lives!”
So this summer, your library card can be your passport no matter how full (or empty) your bank account is.
The book released earlier this month, and I thought the best way to celebrate would be to invite you and yours on a trip around the world!
Summer kicks off with a bang for children, doesn’t it? But after a few weeks of sun and unstructured time the whiny refrains begin: “I’m bored!”
That’s why my friend Sarah Mackenzie of the Read-Aloud Revival and I have teamed up to create Read the World Summer Book Club! An online summer book club to keep your kids (& whole family) engaged, interested, and learning. Each week for eight weeks we’ll be using global books to travel the world!
There will be activities to choose from (simple ones, don’t worry), videos to watch, global families and kids to meet, free downloads to print off and use, and amazing prizes to win–head here for all the details about how to get involved! (And just to clarify: You don’t have to homeschool to join in.)
We’ll be kicking the club off officially on Monday, June 27th, and with Give Your Child the World in hand you’ll be set all summer long to choose the books that interest you and yours most. I’ve done the hard work so you can get to the fun part: exploring the globe page by page. I hope you’ll join us!
A note from Tsh:
As you might guess, I love the premise of Jamie’s new book. In fact, I love it so much I wrote the foreword! I’m honored to help release my friend’s fabulous mission to the world. Here’s a snippet from my foreword:
“…But the truth is, as much as our clan loves to leave our front door and travel, most of our days are spent on the couch in our living room and the grass in our backyard. Library trips, grocery runs, and karate practice are much more likely to be a part of our days than a trip to Zambia—love that journey as we may.
“Books are the answer to our wanderlust. From the moment we crack open the cover, a book transports us to worlds exotic and unknown. We breathe in the glory of different colors, landscapes, and cultural mores, all brought to us from a just-right story. Books are like passports as the real thing—but so much cheaper to use.”
Giveaway
Jamie wants to give FIVE Art of Simple readers a copy of her new book! To enter a chance to win, leave a comment on this post, below. For fun, answer this question: Which country would you travel to next, if you could go anywhere in the world?
We’ll draw the winners soon!
Travel the world this summer (even if you can’t afford the plane tickets)
Having a British husband comes with perks, let me tell ya. There’s the accent, the tea, the extended family, and the need to travel regularly to visit them!
The first time we took our whole family to England in 2012, my kids were nine, eight, and seven. We went again last year, and we’re saving up now to go back in 2018.
We’ve craned our necks upward looking at York Minster and Big Ben, floated down the Thames and under Tower Bridge, toured Beatrix Potter’s house in the Lake District, and kept our eyes peeled for Merry Men while exploring the real Sherwood Forest.
It sounds kind of glamorous, doesn’t it?
But it wasn’t always that way. Back in the day as a young mom, I had a four-, three-, and two-year-old. Three children with less than two years separating them in age has some advantages, but at that time I didn’t know what they were!
I do recall lovely, sloppy kisses, lots of crying (from both me and kids), toddler giggles, sleep deprivation, and the urgent need to bring a sense of peace to the four walls we lived within.
I wasn’t thinking about the next global excursion we would take, that I can assure you. We had money to live on, but that was about it, and a bad airplane experience (cue the nonstop screaming) with my two infant boys flying from Texas to North Carolina left me anything but eager to sign up for that again!
Yet I needed to find some way to explore the world. Why?
Well, those three gorgeous children of mine hail from three separate continents:
- my biological son, Jonathan, born in Texas;
- my son Elijah, adopted as an infant from Liberia, West Africa; and
- my daughter Trishna, who joined our family at the age of four from India.
Add my husband Steve and me to the picture and that makes five people from four countries. As survival mode faded away and the kids became a little older, I felt an urgency to incorporate the cultures of the world into our home, since God had literally knit our family together from the ends of the earth.
And I found a cheap and mostly stress-free way to do it: books.
It started with Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World. I remember my littles flipping through its colorful pages, looking at children just like them!
Later we went through a season where I read one or two pages aloud every day, discovering with each one turned a new family somewhere in the world. We needed more of that in our lives, which sent me on a library hunt like no other.
Along the way we stumbled upon more treasured titles, and used our imaginations to set foot in foreign lands, even when our wallets couldn’t afford the trip.
A few of my favorites:
- Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke (Africa)
- Biblioburro: A True Story by Jeanette Winter (Colombia)
- Elizabeth: Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox (New Zealand)
- The Journey that Saved Curious George by Louise W. Borden (France)
- Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska & Daniel Mizielinski (Everywhere!)
And that’s how I began researching and writing a resource we all can use to do the same: Give Your Child the World: Raising Globally Minded Kids One Book at a Time.
More than just a book to read once and return to the shelf, this is a title you can use with your children all the way from ages 4 to 12!
It’s a reading treasury including over 600 of the best kids’ book recommendations from around the world, featuring carefully curated reading lists organized by region, country, and age range.
One of my childhood heroes, LeVar Burton of Reading Rainbow fame, has called Give Your Child the World, “an invaluable resource for any and everyone who has children in their lives!”
So this summer, your library card can be your passport no matter how full (or empty) your bank account is.
The book released earlier this month, and I thought the best way to celebrate would be to invite you and yours on a trip around the world!
Summer kicks off with a bang for children, doesn’t it? But after a few weeks of sun and unstructured time the whiny refrains begin: “I’m bored!”
That’s why my friend Sarah Mackenzie of the Read-Aloud Revival and I have teamed up to create Read the World Summer Book Club! An online summer book club to keep your kids (& whole family) engaged, interested, and learning. Each week for eight weeks we’ll be using global books to travel the world!
There will be activities to choose from (simple ones, don’t worry), videos to watch, global families and kids to meet, free downloads to print off and use, and amazing prizes to win–head here for all the details about how to get involved! (And just to clarify: You don’t have to homeschool to join in.)
We’ll be kicking the club off officially on Monday, June 27th, and with Give Your Child the World in hand you’ll be set all summer long to choose the books that interest you and yours most. I’ve done the hard work so you can get to the fun part: exploring the globe page by page. I hope you’ll join us!
A note from Tsh:
As you might guess, I love the premise of Jamie’s new book. In fact, I love it so much I wrote the foreword! I’m honored to help release my friend’s fabulous mission to the world. Here’s a snippet from my foreword:
“…But the truth is, as much as our clan loves to leave our front door and travel, most of our days are spent on the couch in our living room and the grass in our backyard. Library trips, grocery runs, and karate practice are much more likely to be a part of our days than a trip to Zambia—love that journey as we may.
“Books are the answer to our wanderlust. From the moment we crack open the cover, a book transports us to worlds exotic and unknown. We breathe in the glory of different colors, landscapes, and cultural mores, all brought to us from a just-right story. Books are like passports as the real thing—but so much cheaper to use.”
Giveaway
Jamie wants to give FIVE Art of Simple readers a copy of her new book! To enter a chance to win, leave a comment on this post, below. For fun, answer this question: Which country would you travel to next, if you could go anywhere in the world?
We’ll draw the winners soon!
278 Comments
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Yay! I preordered Jamie’s book because I loved the premise as well 😉
Buuuuut I know a few people who may not have it who might if I win!
I’d get up and go to Greece, Croatia, Austria, or Switzerland tomorrow if I could.
What a fantastic idea for learning this summer. I have been trying to come up with unique ideas for my two girls and this is perfect!! I can think of so many places I would want to visit…my mother’s family is Croatian and I think it would be amazing to visit there even though so much has changed.
I would love to take my children to China. Oddly enough, my seven year old has a burning fascination for this ancient culture! We are also a melting pot family, of Irish + Norwegian (Mama) and Mexican + Japanese + Native American (Dad) heritage. This is right up our wanderlust alley!
Great idea for a book! It’s only very recently that I realised something. I have travelled quite a bit, but most places I have seen in books! Never actually went there in person… yet!
I would like to go to Borneo and see the orang-utans!
Can I just close my eyes and point to a map? At the age of 42 I have never even been on an airplane but have a serious urge to travel. Sigh. On the upside my teenage daughter just got back from a two week trip to the UK and I don’t think she will ever be the same (in a good way)!
I love this book idea. My destination changes regularly and today I’d head off to Denmark.
As a child I adored Roald Dahl books – and after reading Boy have always wanted to visit the fjords in Norway.
I’d love to read this book! AndI’d love to go to South Africa:)
Sounds like a great book! We are an international family as well and travel quite a bit although it can never be enough! I would love to go to Morocco soon, somehow I am fascinated by it!
Definitely Christmas time in Germany. Or any place that snows for that matter. Just want to see/feel snow and Christmas is my fav time of the year!!!
I *love* the book club!! I’ve been wanting to do one with my boys for a while but haven’t found just the right one. We’ve been moving a lot, too, so that makes it tricky. We’ll be moving in July, too, but am definitely going to try to round up some of the books for them!
I would go to Wales! I’ve been enchanted with it since 7th grade and came so close to going once! (I was in London…closer than NE!) I want to learn Welsh someday! (Sorry TMI, but it’s 4am and I’m pregnant with insomnia! lol!)
I would travel to England to meet my 2year old niece?
Hmm…I think I’d go to Italy or Spain or Australia or…anywhere!
My grandson would love this book. Thank you for the opportunity. I visited Sarah’s website the Reading Aloud revival and man, am I glad we read aloud from the time we began homeschooling to the finish – and beyond.
Wow. This sounds amazing. I would slow travel around Italy and Spain first but the list is long of places I wish to see.
I am a English as a second language teacher and would love to share this with them and my own children.
I would go to England because I love it; Italy, Spain, and New Zealand because I’ve never been; Grenada because my grandmother was born there…the list goes on!!!
What a wonderful topic to daydream about. I would love to travel to Japan.
I need this book! Both my husband and myself are from different countries, and we’ve had our two boys in a third country, so we have lots of travel to see extended families…not always relaxing at ages 1 and 3! As lovely as it is to visit our families, if I could go anywhere in the world it would be to Japan. I’ve never been and it remains high on my wish list year in and year out.
Love this idea and can’t wait to read the book.
Italy and then India!
Thanks for the opportunity to win. I would travel to Southeast Asia…all of it. 🙂
I can’t wait to read this book! I’d love to go somewhere in Asia. 🙂
Oh we would start with Europe To learn more about our heritage and show our two young kids some of their roots. Then we would go to Thailand to visit our sponsored child so our kids can see where all our letter and drawers go to! What a beautiful book!! Hope to win a copy!!!
There are so many places! Today I think it would be Europe, Switzerland specifically.
Looks like a great book! We love to travel as a family. I’d probably say South Africa! Otherwise Iceland, Norway, and Italy are high on my list!
I would love to travel to any country in Europe. Ireland is a dream, and so is France.
Thank you for a chance to win! I’d love to head back to the Dominican Republic
I love the idea of this book! I do not have any children of my own, but I am an aunt to several children. And this book sounds interesting just for me. I love traveling and am always dreaming of going to Europe. Right now Italy is at the top of my list.
Our next trip will be to wherever my sister is stationed! We think it might be Japan, but would happily visit her again in Germany.
I would love to return to my children’s birthplaces : Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Izmir, Turkey. But I’d also love to go to Prague for the history or to Zambia, Niger, Kenya or Senegal to visit friends there.
Oh, I would love to win this! My husband and I have long wished to go to Ireland. Thank you!
I’ve never been anywhere, so I wouldn’t be picky! :)I would like to go to Italy, though.
We have dear friends in the UAE and in Indonesia, so we would love to visit either place to spend time with people we love!
Would love to go to Ireland, to see where my husband’s family came from!
So hard to choose! But one dream that my husband and I keep coming back to is Africa. I would love to take my two sons and travel to South Africa to start–with a little side trip to Zanzibar, just to spice things up.
Oh it would be Italy for me! My family is just making ends meet. So travel is non existent in our lives, but oh do we long for it☺️
What a fun question to ponder…New Zealand & Australia, with a possible follow up to Italy/Greece, or the family in Germany!!
New Zealand! Thank you 🙂
Honestly, I’d love to travel our own country more. So many sights we have not seen right here in the USA.
I love the idea of this book. I will be travelling with my children next year and this would help us prepare!
If money were no object, I would take the kids to Scotland and let them discover the land my great-grandmother told me about. Or maybe we’d go to Australia to see the Koala bears, or Israel to see where Jesus walked. There are so many possibilities!
I would love this for my grandchildren! And England and Scotland are next on my list.
Awesome! So excited about this book! I would wish to travel to Kenya if I had the chance.
Uganda! Friends just returned from living there for 11 years and I would love to meet those vibrant, friendly people.
I’ve never traveled internationally. I our first stop as a family would be Ireland. I have some Irish in me and my husband is very proud of his Irish heritage and has talked it up to the kids so I think everyone would love seeing the country first hand!
Love this book idea. ❤️ We’d go to Ireland, Isreal, and Italy!
I love to read to my kids and we all travel quite a bit. Every year I take them to at least one new big city, last year we went to Paris and Austin and soon we are leaving for Munich.
What an amazing resource! I’d love to explore Scotland or New Zealand.
I’m gonna have to go with the masses and say Italy! Thank you and Jaime so much for a chance to win when buying just isn’t always in the budget.
Growing up I thought it would be cool to have my family do one country/culture a week all year long. For awhile, my age matched the number of countries I’d been to. It’s been a few years since that’s been true, but I’m always looking for an opportunity to add another stamp to my passport. One of the first official things my husband and I do for our kids is get them a passport, even if we don’t have any trip on the horizon. You never know when a great trip will arise on the spur of the minute, you know! I’ve not been to Africa yet, so that might be the next place I’d choose (if it weren’t for the hours on the plane and time change for the preschooler and infant!).
Eager to add this to our family library! I’d love to travel to Italy or Poland, but for now I’m content to be an armchair traveler with my littles and some good books this summer.
I can’t wait to check this book out. I’m from Missouri and have never traveled much beyond the states bordering it. I would love to visit Germany, Scotland and Ireland because of ancestral connections. Australia would be amazing too!
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I love traveling, but since kids, I content myself with travel books. I’m excited to introduce my children to this book! Italy is next on my traveling wish list!
What a fabulous book! I would take my husband to New Zealand!
This looks beautiful! There are so many places I want to travel to. New Zealand, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Tibet…
Scandinavia!!
What a wonderful book concept! If I could hop on a plane with my two year old tomorrow I’d want to Paris and take her on a tour of Versailles; I was blown away during my visit nine years ago and I can see her ooohhing and awwing over the gorgeous decor, lovely gardens, and eventual boat ride we would take:)
I would love to go to San Andreas island!
I would love to take our kiddos to Iceland.
Sounds like a fun resource! I pick New Zealand as my “anywhere in the world” place for today. (tomorrow, it’s a different story…)
What a great resource!
I would love to visit New Zealand. Oh, and Peru. And Denmark. And Ireland. Can I just book a trip to everywhere? 🙂
Would love to travel to Australia & New Zealand someday.
I would love to go to India.
I would start with India or Brazil. Not entirely sure why, but they were the first two non-Eurocentric countries that popped into my head, and as much as I’m leery of not being able to speak the language while traveling, it would be an excellent growing experience for me. And my sons and husband would LOVE it!
Love this idea! I think exposing children to the diversity of our world is so important. I would start with Australia.
I really love the idea behind this book! In fact, I’m currently writing a series of simple geography workbooks for kids (Geography Explorer books, which can be found on Amazon) with the same sort of idea in mind. I am just finishing up a round-the-world trip, but there are still so many places I’d like to visit. I think the next country I would visit would be Chile or Argentina.
This sounds amazing! I can’t wait to read it. There are so many countries on our travel list, but coming up soon might be Tahiti/French Polynesia or Iceland.
I love the idea behind this book. I’d love to travel with my son to Ghana or Senegal.
This sounds like a perfect book for our family! The next country on my list of places to visit us the Czech Republic.
What a wonderful concept! We were able to travel through several countries in Europe last year with our small children, and the one country I wished we could have made it to was Switzerland! Definitely one of many on our bucket list!!
I am definitely interested in the Summer Reading Club and encouraging my boys to read books about travel, culture and experiencing our country and the world! We just applied for their passports and hope to head to England this year.
I think our family would love Australia. We are taking our kids out of the country for the first time in December. They will be 8, 5, & 3.
I love this idea! We’d head to Ireland if it were feasible. 🙂
I would love to spend 6 months or so in the UK. Taking my time to see the sights and get a more local perspective on life there.
I let my oldest son answer, “Chile, because my father was born there. I would see his family, friends, relatives, and many places that I don’t often get to see.”
Love this! Combines two of my personal favorite things- books and travel- to give kids access to the huge world out there! I would love to travel to the UK and Ireland next!
My family is planning a trip to New Zealand sadly it is still a few years off though.
This looks like a great book! My girls both love books so much and we are intentional about what we read. I would travel to Scotland to visit my sister then the Netherlands to see where I was born!
I would travel to Israel!
So cool! And definitely Scotland! I love it there.
This is awesome! Our library isn’t the greatest, so I try to be very picky with books. Because I can’t afford all of them! So book lists are my favorite (have you read Honey for a Child’s Heart!? So good.) I will definitely be getting this book. And it would be ahMAZING TO WIN it for free! Ha! If I could go anywhere right now it would be Israel. Or Ireland. Or France. Or Uganda. Or Belize……. Ahem. Get the picture???
We love reading and exploring. I think I’d like to take trip to Ireland to teach the kids about their dad’s heritage!
I’d go to England. Or Hungary. But probably England. I have a dream of taking my children to England for the summer one year to visit all of the places we’ve read about and grown to love.
Can’t wait to read this. We would go to Thailand, always ready for Thailand.
If I could go anywhere in the world, I would go to Bali.
This book sounds wonderful and I’ll be purchasing! I would have to say traveling to Central African Republic because my husband and I are headed there next month for an adoption bonding trip! I’ve also always wanted to visit Italy…maybe someday. 🙂
Our family would love to visit our long time friends turned family in Austria!
I’d pack my bags & fly to Iceland or South Africa or Thailand if I could! I’ve been many, many places already that I’d never thought as a child that I’d get the chance to see, and a lot of those I’ve been able to discover with my children.
Fantastic idea! I would pack for Italy in a heartbeat!
What a marvelous book! I would love to enjoy this resource with my almost-kindergartner! And I’d love, love, love to visit England and see Shakespeare’s reconstructed Globe Theatre or walk the paths of Jane Austen!
I would go visit my cousin in London with the whole family! Or failing that, travel to Mexico to visit my grandparents. I’m starting homeschooling with my 5 year old in the Fall and we are doing a made-up curriculum focused on countries she wants to know more about, so this would be a definite Godsend!
I want to read this book with my littles! My family and I would love to head to Peru next.
This looks wonderful! France!
This really comes at such a perfect time. Resources won’t allow us to travel too far right now, but I’m itching to “explore” with my young children. We’ve been looking at atlases and books talking about people from other countries. What a wonderful resource to continue the adventure!
If we could go anywhere right now, it would be Western Europe — first stop, France. 🙂
I would love to take trip to Iceland!
The book sound wonderful! I have always wanted to travel to Italy, Venice particularly. When I did my OE I never got there as I came home a year earlier to get married! I adore travelling but haven’t been anywhere really for about 20 years. Of course when I read the comments from people wanting to come to New Zealand I feel a bit special that I live here.
We also have enjoyed Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas and the book about saving Curious George. I’ve never been anywhere except Canada, and I hate to fly, but if I could be magically transported, I think I would choose Ireland or Italy.
I would love to see more of Europe (I’ve been to France) so I pick Germany.
France!
This book sounds perfect to star my young children on world traveling! I would love to travel to South Africa.
So many places I want to go! But the first place I would go is Italy!
This is definitely a book my family would make use of! We are hoping to travel to Alaska, New Zealand, Scotland and Sweden (all for different reasons) in the next couple of years.
My husband and I have loved China ever since we visited in 2009. I’d love to go back and take our kids!
And I’m thrilled to hear about this new book!
This is an amazing idea! Good work! My husband grew up a third culture kid in Spain and we are raising our daughter bilingual, but it is one of my greatest wishes that she also grow up learning about other countries and cultures. If I could go anywhere right now it would be Mexico City, so my daughter could meet her 90 year old great grandmother (her namesake).
This book sounds wonderful! I have never been out of the country- but I do live in Alaska and have vacationed in Hawaii twice! I would love to go to Iceland. I would also love a copy of your book! Thank you, Jamie!
New Zealand
What an awesome book!! If I could I would love to go to Italy or Great Britain. I’ve been feeling the travel bug like crazy lately so a book like this would be an amazing resource for our family. Thanks for the giveaway!!
This sounds like such a fabulous book. I’d love to visit Italy, for the food, the wine and the beautiful countryside! It sounds exactly where I’d love to relax.
Learning to travel inside your heart is the most important resource for learning to travel the world with an open mind 🙂 and books are one of the greatest means of transportation for that! I would love to go on a trip to São Tomé e Príncipe with my husband and children, 8,7 and 3 years old. Thanks for all the great tips for living the simple life
France. I’d love to take the kids to Paris.
I really want to take my kids to do humanitarian work in Haiti because it is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and it is so close to my heart.
Italy! We just got back from a year of expat-hood in Mumbai, and spent a week in London on the way home, so now I’m ready for another foreign language, but I want to stay closer to English this time!
The book sounds like a great resource! I would love to travel to Prince Edward Island.
I would go to Italy, but to be honest the answer to this question changes with my mood and the season!
Great idea for a book. I would take my kids to South Africa so we could visit their Aunt, Uncle, and cousins who live there.
I also have a European husband and up until this year have lived in his home country for 7 out of our 8 years of marriage. Our two children call two countries home. I’d love to have Jaime’s book to help me teach my multi-cultural family. If I could choose anywhere to take my family, I would like to meander through New Zealand together.
Thank you for sharing this incredible book, which I’m looking forward to reading. There are many countries to which our family would love to travel next, but my husband particularly wants to visit New Zealand. So, we are planning our adventure.
I love this!! I concur with all the sentiments…love for travel, appreciation for other cultures, a wide and broad and deep world-view. But yes it is impossible with littles!! If I could go anywhere, it would be Italy! Haven’t made it there yet but one day I will!
Sounds like a great book and I’d like to go to New Zealand!
Thanks for the giveaway! We’d like to work our way through countries that begin with the letter I, so India, Iceland, Indonesia, and Israel first come to mind.
Love, love, love. Thanks for the book. Thanks for the inspiration. As a mother to a toddler and continually wondering how to bring the world to her when we live in a town of 1,000 in central Missouri, I can’t wait to read the book. If I could pack my bags tomorrow I’d head to Costa Rica – a country that has had a hold on me for a while and one I’m excited to explore some day!
Would love to read this book.
Someday, I would be interested in meeting our Compassion child, who lives in Honduras. I’d also like to visit Italy and Colombia. My husband is hoping to make a trek to Taiwan in the next couple of years.
Thanks for the giveaway!
If I could
I would
Go
To
The United Kingdom..
Might have something to do with my current BBC obsession?
Our school has a global focus, so would love to win a copy of this book for the library! Our family just returned from a year on the road and I’d return to any of those places tomorrow, but we ran out of time for South America, so Argentina!!
Cuba. I absolutely love Cuba. I served as a Missionary there and I cannot wait to come back with them.
Costa Rica
I can’t wait to check out this book! I would love to travel anywhere in Europe or Mongolia.
I’ve always wanted to go to Norway and Scotland
This book sounds fantastic! I would travel to Australia with my hubby and two young kids. 🙂
I have 4 daughters and although we haven’t travelled much, its definitely something I’d like to do. I’d love to visit Northern India myself. I’d love to take my kids to the UK.
My husband has always wanted to visit New Zealand. I would like to visit Europe, (especially Wales and Italy). But I recently started researching a dead end in my family history (genealogy) and the problem is that there aren’t census records (or consistent records) for Newfoundland, Canada before 1870. So, my current dream is to go to the south-east corner of Newfoundland and scour the graveyards, church records, and immigration records for evidence of George Henry Andrews and Elizabeth Hussey.
I would go to Panama:) Thanks!
I am dying to explore Scotland. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
I would like to go to Japan with at least one of my daughters – we really enjoyed the Australian movie Paper Planes which features a trip to Japan.
We recently started homeschooling, and would love this book!
I’d like to get my international feet wet in England. 🙂
next on our list is the Land of Oz! can’t wait…
I’d love to go to Ireland, Italy, or PEI, Canada!
I would love to go anywhere but England would be my first choice. I’m looking forward to reading this book. I was just thinking recently about how I want my daughters to experience different countries through what we read, since traveling isn’t an option right now.
I love reading aloud to my children. I would love to visit England.
New readers at my house and enjoying the magic. Looking forward to being traveling partners through good books this summer. I would travel to New Zealand and Australia if I had the time to do it. Maybe someday…
As a couple with no children (16 years this Friday), almost 4 years ago God moved us to begin an adoption journey of our own, which will be culminating this August when we travel down to Costa Rica for 6 weeks to meet, adopt, and bring home our 5 kids (4 girls, 1 boy – biological siblings). God has a sense of humor, and this story definitely keeps us laughing… and on our knees! 🙂 I set up a “baby” registry on Amazon, and that MAPS book was actually on the list (and someone purchased it)… it’s BEAUTIFUL!
I grew up traveling the U.S., and a tiny bit internationally, while my husband grew up as a missionary kid in South America. After we married, we spent 4.5 years traveling the world, working with humanitarian aid organizations, and rather than quenching our wanderlust, it just inflamed it. With 5 kids coming, there’s no extra money for travel at the moment, but I get my fix through books for the time being. 🙂
If I could go ANYWHERE… New Zealand. It’s definitely on the bucket list!
Well, we’re going to the Netherlands this summer to visit my husband’s family, and I can’t wait!
I’d spend a summer in Sweden.
I’d love to visit the Emerald Isle! Greece, Italy and Norway are other places I’d like to see. Thanks for the chance!
Oh, what a wonderful resource! I have an adopted son from Russia and would love to see the books/resources from that region.
Excellent resource! Thank you for sharing. I was looking for something like that. We are fortunate in that we currently are traveling across three continents. But when we’re not traveling, we seek to stay globally-minded. We are currently in Germany after a roadtrip across Eastern Europe from Romania. Next stop Portugal (by air). Then three countries in Africa for three weeks. Then a cross-country in the U.S. (Maine to California!).
Scotland! Or Italy! Or Chile!
We are taking our own trip around the world to places we want to see some day. We would all like to go to Australia as a family.
Oh my goodness! We would love this book! We subscribed to Little Passports and I’ve been looking everywhere for a good resource of books to go along with it!
In my excitement I forgot to mention that we would go to Italy if we could!
I would love this for my family and I really want to visit New Zealand.
I want to go to Egypt and see the pyramids!
What a wonderful book! I would love to do a huge road trip around Australia (again), but this with my daughters in tow. I want them to experience the outback.
I think Ireland is my first choice in travel. My husband’s family possibly comes from there, and it’s just so gorgeous!
My kids (2 and almost 5) have been begging to go to Peru because their caregiver, who speaks Spanish with them, is from there. I would love to share that experience with them.
What a great idea for a book! I have always wanted to travel to Italy..
Cambodia!
I’ve thought of doing this on my own in past summers but got overwhelmed. What a great resource! I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, though it will likely always be a dream.
I would love to take my family to France!
I’d love to go to Germany and Switzerland! Thanks for the opportunity to win!
those are two beautiful countries!
England!
It’s so hard to choose one destination–I would so love an around the world adventure! If I had to choose, I would go to the Netherlands–my father is Dutch, but I’ve never visited. Our family also loves bicycles & the bicycle infrastructure there is amazing I hear. Also, tulips!
Just the book I need! I would like to travel to Italy!
Croatia or Wales! or India. Or China. Or Afghanistan. Or New Zealand. Oh golly, can I just go everywhere?!!
Ireland!
I would probably head to Switzerland if I had the opportunity right now. 🙂
We are saving up to go back to China and Hong Kong so we can visit our adopted kids countries as a family!
We love to travel and explore the world and will be raising our baby to do the same. If we could go anywhere – Antartica, Hawaii and South Africa are high on the list, but I think Ecaudor and the Galápagos Islands would win.
I would have a hard time choosing! I would probably say Mexico (Yucatan) because it’s been too long since we’ve been back to see family and enjoy my husband’s home culture.
Australia
Ooh – the book sounds just our sort of thing! Destination wise, it’d be a toss up between Hawaii and a Greek island!!!
Today I would choose Denmark to visit a dear friend I haven’t seen for a long time..
Our family would travel to Scotland. Our youngest biological child was born there but doesn’t remember it. I’d love to show him where he was born.
Definitely Thailand – I would love to eat that food in person!! 🙂
I am so excited by this book! We have not yet traveled internationally with our boys but are so looking forward to doing so.
I would love to go to South Africa. My daughter has been back and forth there for the last two years, so maybe I will get my chance. Before she spent so much time there, I wanted to go to England and still do. I really enjoyed this post!
New Zealand please!
I would take my family to Lesotho in Southern Africa. It is where I grew up and I would so love to share it with them.
Ireland!
I’ve been looking for a way to expand the horizons of my three kids, and this looks ideal! My husband and I lived in the UK for a year and did as much traveling as we could; however, due to the expense we could never make it to Greece. Until we make it there in person, I’d love to introduce my kids to it and many other places!
My son was born in Taiwan so I would really live to take him there, but now my sisters-in-law live in China. It is hard to pick one place!
Five years ago my Mother and I were blessed to welcome into our home a wonderful 24/7 live-in Liberian caregiver. She is family to me now; the sister I never had, Two years ago, when her daughter and granddaughters came to live with her, another blessing took the shape of her diminutive, youngest granddaughter named, ever so appropriately, Blessing! We have bonded. She calls me auntie. I am always on the look out for gifts that will not only enhance her love for her own heritage but continue to broaden her global experience. This book would do just that. It would be a triple blessing were we to win one!!
What a cool book! My husband and I have visited Romania twice to do missions with and would Joyce to take our boys with us. I’ve also never been to the UK and would love for it to be our next getaway vacation.
I can’t tell you how much I love this book premise! My husbands family came over from the Netherlands and we’d like to take our toddler out there at some point…hopefully sooner than later. Honestly, I just can’t imagine how to survive such a long flight and travel day with an energy filled munchkin.
We are currently saving for a trip to New Zealand next spring!!!!
I have been looking for something just like this to use in my preschool classroom. Great resource! I will follow along for ideas.
There are so many places I would love to visit! Maybe Italy?
I would love to go to Europe and hope to in the next few years!
I’d travel to Australia to visit a friend! I’m so excited about this book and the summer reading plans. What a great idea! I can’t wait to get started with my 3 girls.
Scotland, because I want to show the Isle of Skye to my daughter and my husband. Or Australia, so we can meet some online friends in person.
Next I would head to Japan to walk the Shikoku Junrei with my 12 year old. He has completed the Way of St. James with me.
Thank you so much for this opportunity!. I would go to Italy. I have wanted to visit there since I was a young girl.
We haven’t left North American yet but have dreamed of traveling to England for historic, ancestral, and tourist sites (like the Harry Potter studio!).
I would go to Northeast Thailand to visit a dear friend and her sweet family.
Scotland, alone with my husband (while Im dreaming). Thanks for the chance!
I love the idea of learning about the world through books! We’d love to travel to Ireland with our kids if we could.
I would love to go to the Democratic republic of Congo. I have been there once, and would love to go visit my friend that lives there.
We just returned from sixteen days in Denmark and Norway with our five and seven year old sons. They love to travel and always exceed our expectations on stamina, adventurousness and flexibility. On our list currently is Croatia, New Zealand, Japan and San Diego for future trips. Our next booked trip is to Washington DC.
Italy!! This book is on my Amazon wish list!
I’d love to visit China again, I was given an opportunity to go to NE China in 2009 with a team, together serving at a foster care facility for orphans, my heart was captured ?
My dream work is to serve families in the field of orphan care as a Nutritional Therapist & Photography ? ?
What a wonderful book. I long to travel more than myself and my family do and I’m sure we will more so in the future I would like to travel to Australia and see our cousins in Sidney and explore.
I love this idea!
Excited to join the book club with my 3 littles. I would go to Argentina, love me some Spanish culture. Love your blog and podcast Tsh, it has been a great encouragement to me since my first was in my belly in 2012 and now I often listen as I nurse the twins. Thank you.
I’ve traveled quite a bit before kids, but never to Europe. I would love to go to France so I could try pastries from a real patisserie. I even got my two girls hooked on the idea of trying real French pastries!
I would travel to The Netherlands to visit my extended family.
We’d go to Italy – my husband lived there 5 years for grad school & I’ve visited several times, so we’d want to show our daughter her daddy’s old stomping grounds!
Right now, I have Iceland on my mind. But I’ve never been to France, and that’s been pretty high on my list for a while. Also, Australia…
I’d love to take my children to Europe, specifically Frane & Spain, two of my most favorite countries 🙂
I would go to Great Britain. I would love to visit London, roam the hills of Scotland and Wales, visit a few pubs and see all the sights.
I would travel to England…and see all the places my favorite books take place.
I would choose Italy and Greece! Thx.
My kids and I would love this book! I would take my family to Mexico, so my children could meet their 100-year-old great-grandmother.
I’d love to go to England, Portugal and Italy!! My son is 6 1/2 and I think this would be a great book for he and I to read.
I would love to win this to use with my kids for homeschooling.
My daughter & I are leaving for a month in Mexico in less than 2 weeks! I’d also love to visit Spain!
This looks amazing! I would love to win this for my family!
Great idea! Would love to go to Italy, especially Tuscany.
I’d love to go to Greece, Nepal/North India or Thailand. (Along with about a dozen other places!) ?
Philippines!!
Reading and travel are two of my favorite things. We love to travel with our kids, but are limited by time and finances, so this offers a great way to show them the world without leaving home.
I would love to take my family to Slovenia.
Would love to take my kids to Ireland to visit their ancestral farmstead and their 4th cousins!
I loved this post- I was born in new zealand my daughter was born in Australia and my husband is Israeli- we relate to being global citizens! If we could go on our next family trip together it would be to India, to see where my husbands grandparents were born.
Turkey!
Australia! So far and so expensive… and yet so alluring!!
I think I’d start in India then Spain, France, revisit Finland…Its hard to choose! Hoping to get a chance to use this resource. Congratulations, Jamie!
We love Anna Hibiscus! We just finished reading the first one together (my little is just 5). We love looking at the animals of Africa too! That would be our pick of where to travel to.
I love this book idea too! I would head to Italy to take painting and cooking classes while I can! No kids yet makes that a lot easier!
Ooooh… The list is uber long. But these are my tops three: Scotland, Ireland, Australia!
This book sounds like a wonderful starter for those facetime books-with-grama I plan to do with my sweet grand babies that are a 12 hour drive away but I want to be connected to.
Which country… A serious trip of the United States of America! So much here I haven’t seen.
I would like to go to Belize and take my grandsons. In my reading I understand that it is the cleanest environment and that the people there care intensely about their environment and will not allow its destruction. It would be wonderful to see it and to see the amazing birds and trees and flowers, etc., but I would hope to return here with new ways to help here in America too.
Solo to Iceland or India with the family. I am looking forward to reading the book.
We have 10 children 8 of whom are adopted:) Would love to have this book to expand their world! Thanks for the giveaway. If i could anywhere…. back to my childrens’ birth country or Italy!…. oh and Japan!
This sounds incredible! Thank you for doing the work of finding all of the great books for us!! We just had friends visit from Kosovo and since then I’ve been trying to decide how to “show” my daughter (3 1/2) and son (1) how very big and exciting the world is! I traveled quite a bit before kids, but we are taking our first big trip with them in 2 weeks…driving from MA to MI to visit family and farm life! I am looking forward to traveling internationally with them when they are older. Given the chance now, I think we’d go to Italy.
Thanks again for this great resource! I can’t wait to check it out!!
Thank you for this post. I’ve ordered the book and am signing up my little girl for the book club. She’s fascinated with all things worldly and this is right up her alley. If we could go anywhere, we’d leave today for Africa so that we could watch the lions run and the elephants roam.
Would love to take my kids to Taiwan next.
I would love to take my kiddos to France to see the town where their Dad’s side of the family is from, and I would also love to explore Italy and Greece. My son would love to learn some German and I expect explore the country, wile my daughter lives. Sounds of French. 🙂
I would love this book. And we’d like to travel to Poland as a family trip.
This book sounds perfect! We have two adopted boys and one biological son as well (all born within 2.5 years of each other, so I can relate to the survival mode you felt). I would love to travel to England and Ireland, though Norway, South Africa, and India are also on my list. 🙂
This is so exciting! Our library list is going to be so much longer now. Love it! My daughter is very interested in the world and I can’t wait to share this with her.
This book looks wonderful! Thanks J! I would travel to Bali, perhaps I’d even bring my children.
I love this idea! Would definitely travel to Australia. Also Ireland, as my husband’s side of the family has roots there.
I’ve been looking for something just like this. I’m so excited to check this out. It’s so hard to pick the next country I’d love to travel to, but if I have to pick just one, I’d pick the Czech Republic to see where my family is from.
Ireland. My answer is always Ireland:)
Philippines! My husbands family is from there.
What a wonderful idea for a book! This would be so much fun for my family. I haven’t really been to Europe before and would love to hike around the alps to check out the scenery and little villages.
I would go to Mexico!
Pretty sure we would head for the UK.
I would love this for my family! We truly enjoy learning about new cultures. Thank you for this resource!
Scotland! Following my family roots has me dreaming of talking a family adventure there.
I LOVE this concept! I’m heading to the library to pick up a copy of the book but would love to own it. I’d love to go to South Africa next.
If I could travel anywhere in the world….so many choices! I love love to go to Ireland & Scotland, or maybe Greece, or Israel, etc etc 🙂 This book sounds fantastic!
This sounds like a fantastic resource! The next places on my travel list are Italy, the UK, and Sweden.
We are a family of 4, with both kids adopted from Russia. It would be fun to return to Russia with them now that they are older and can remember more of the trip.
I would love to visit Australia. 🙂
New Zealand, in a heartbeat! No question. 🙂 Can’t wait to read this book!
Love the idea of your book and the summer club! Our daughter has the desire to travel to France. I told her that when she’s able to be a little more adventurous with her food (beyond buttered noodles and chicken nuggets) then we will consider planning our trip! 😉
I have started reading Jamie’s “Steady Days” book, so this blog post was a fun surprise! I am absolutely wanting to introduce more of the world to my children this summer. I would love to go to Sweden where we have a lot family heritage.
Even if I don’t win this book, I will be buying it. As I start ‘official’ homeschool with my oldest this fall, and was homeschooled myself, I can’t wait to share the wonders of the world with him. Hope this book finds its way into some great hands.
My husband and I want to take our kids to Japan.
What a great book! I would love to take my family to Spain, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland! The list could go on!!
The book sounds amazing – even if I have all teens! I’d go to Ethiopia to meet a little girl we are blessed to sponsor.
Anywhere…and everywhere!
As an Australian I yearn to visit the US of A! And as a graduate of International Studies – you can guess my passion for other cultures!
Very cool. My world geography could use some work so this sounds like a good resource for myself as I read books with my kiddos. We’ll learn together! I’d love to visit all over the world but haven’t even visited Canada yet, so would love to start there.
I am excited to read this book! My current heart’s desire is to visit Paris and the French countryside. I’d love to take my family to the British Isle and visit the famous places of those we’ve been reading about. I’m a sucker for the accent! Thank you for the giveaway!
I love the concept of this book! I would travel to Ireland if I could choose.
I would go to Israel and see many sights from the Bible.
My 8 yr old already has a bucket list! Mexico for Day of the Dead, Paris to see the Eifel Tower at night, he told us after watching some Rick Steves episodes that we should probably just go to Europe for 2 yrs to have time to see everything! We already own the Maps book, its great.
I think I’d pick New Zealand…and since I’d be relatively close, Australia too!
My husband and I used to travel and live abroad before we had our 3 children (all now ages 4 and under), and we can’t wait to travel globally with them! I’d take them to the Philippines first, to visit their many relatives, and it’d be neat to take them to places we’ve lived/worked: Liberia, Bolivia, Spain, India. As for new places, I’d love to try Iceland, the Azores, Nepal…
Such a breath of fresh air to read this post this morning! I dream of traveling to India someday. I find the culture so beautiful and I would love to immerse myself in it!
What a fabulous resource! Ever since I lived in Central America for 18 months, I’ve thought that everyone should have a chance to live/travel to far-away places that stretch their worldview a bit (or a lot)—this way, I can continue to do it while we also save up money for our next trip!
I would love to win this book – fabulous idea!!
I want to share it with my niece and HER two littles!
I would love to visit Ireland – living in the desert, I can only imagine seeing all that GREEN, and the villages and little narrow streets…
I have visited my family in Germany twice so far – once when I was 10 with my parents and siblings, again when I was 20 and in the middle of college adventures, and I would love to go again – this time with my husband and children! (Now 2 1/2 and 9 months)
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I would love to go to India or South Africa