This book is a great jumping-off point for family vacations in the US or abroad. It will inspire you to travel AND read with your family!

Thirty international locales from books aimed at 3- to 13-year olds are described. Each descriptive chapter includes a few sentences summarizing the overarching experience (with location and age information); a one to two page summary of the book; several pages relating an actual visit by an adult(s) and child(ren); and, one to several pages detailing the specific location(s) involved, including names, addresses, phone numbers and web sites. Also included are a list of twenty-five other literary travel possibilities, including Call of the Wild and Peter Pan, and an index to titles.

The books and sites included are:

The Adventures of Pinocchio, Tuscany, Italy
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hannibal, Missouri and environs
And Now Miguel, Taos, New Mexico
Anne of Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, Canada
A Bear Called Paddington, London, England
The Black Stallion, Belmont Park, Long Island, New York
Brighty of the Grand Canyon, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Child of the Owl, San Francisco, California
Eloise, New York City, New York
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York
Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, Haarlem Amsterdam and environs
Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, London, Windsor and Durham, England
Heidi, Graubunden, Switzerland
Hill of Fire, Paracutin Volcano, Michoacan, Mexico
Island of the Blue Dolphins, Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, California

Kidnapped, Isle of Mull, Scotland
Linnea in Monet's Garden, Paris and Giverny, France
Little House on the Prairie, De Smet, South Dakota
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, New York City
Little Women, Concord, Massachusetts
Madeline, Paris, France
Make Way for Ducklings, Boston, Massachusetts
Maybelle the Cable Car, San Francisco, California
Paddle-to-the-Sea, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Hamelin, Germany
Ramona Quimby, Age 8, Portland, Oregon
Song of the Swallows, San Juan Capistrano, California
The Tale of Peter Rabbit, The Lake District, England
The Watsons Go to Birmingham -- 1963, Birmingham, Alabama
Yolonda's Genius, Chicago, Illinois

You can tell moms wrote this book. It's entertaining AND practical. The material is fascinating, well written, and tells you everything you could want to know (except maybe where the bathrooms are located). The contact information makes this an invaluable resource. I hope the authors will continue to write more of these wonderful family travel guides.

Highest recommendation.

MY GRANDCHILDREN ARE JUST GETTING OLD ENOUGH TO TRAVEL, AND THIS BOOK GIVES ME A GUIDE TO MANY CHOICES OF WHERE WE CAN TAKE THEM (A FEW AT A TIME!) IT'S GREAT TO HAVE A PROJECT WHEN PLANNING A TRIP, AND IT WILL GIVE ME A SOURCE OF CONVERSATION WITH THEM AND A WAY OF DISCOVERING WHAT BOOKS THEY REALLY ENJOY. READING SOME OF THESE SUGGESTED BOOKS WITH THEM AND MAKING JOINT DECISIONS WILL ALSO BE FUN--THE BOOK IS SO WELL WRITTEN AND INFORMATIVE IT MAKES THE IDEA OF SEEKING OUT LOCATIONS OF BOOKS WHICH HAVE SET OUR IMAGINATIONS SOARING IN OUR CHILDHOODS, AND THEIRS, VERY SPECIAL. THE ITINERARIES ARE ALL THERE, AND TOURIST OFFICES,WEB SITES, RESERVATION NUMBERS---AND IT'S HONEST--NO FLOWERY DISCRIPTIONS OF EVERY LOCATION--I LOVED IT!!!!!!

While the book has some really great recipes, the instructional part of the recipes is fraught with errors. Read the instructions very carefully before baking.
For the beginner it would be helpful to have graphic instruction on "shaping" bread.

This book is an excellent source for all of the breads that the beginning bread baker would like to bake. It is clearly written, there are wonderful tidbits of information on the sides of the pages or at the end of each chapter, and one can learn many aspects of bread baking just by reading the book. Another wonderful feature is that the author gives instructions for baking by hand, mixers, or bread machines. This book offers the most wholesome and nutrituous recipes for the health conscious bread maker.

This book is one of the rare books that takes the novice baker to the heights of artisan bread making in an easy-to-read and easy-to-follow step by step approach. More importantly, Beth's tips will help allay the most common enemy of novice bakers - their fear factor.
Not only have I yet to make a bad loaf (one set of very impressed parents and many adoring friends later)-- I really appreciated the finer points of baking that are detailed in the side bars and the "alternatives" that are provided in the recipe itself -- unlike other books, you don't have to flip pages to figure out the different things you can do with the recipe. I also have learned from her the different ways to experiment and to be creative - something that you don't always feel comfortable with since bread recipes are not the best type of recipe to experiment with.
This book is an excellent compendium of many different bread styles and types, and thus, its shortfall may be that it is too dense a read for someone who wants pretty pictures a la ....