September 27, 2018
As a former high school English teacher and now a writer and mother with three girls, books play heavily in my past and in my present. I love that between trips, I can travel anywhere I want through books, no passport required. All you need is a library card or a favorite bookstore! Great books have encouraged me to seek a diversity of perspective, to explore other cultures and voices, to learn history and to teach my girls (and previously my students) the importance of reading alternative voices and experiences. Books have encouraged me to travel – and elevated my travel experiences too!
Parnassus Bookstore
A Formative Adventure that Began with a Book
I recently participated in an interview with the travel website Formative Adventures about a memorable time in my childhood that influenced my philosophy of travel with my kids. I wrote about my love of books and specifically reading The Diary of Anne Frank in middle school and later visiting the Secret Annex where she and her family hid from Nazi soldiers in Amsterdam. Reading this book about a young Jewish girl (my same age at the time) in wartime Europe was completely transformative for me. Visiting her home was haunting and also reinforced the power of books and travel for me, at a young age.
Read the complete interview and two other writers who also share beautiful stories of formative travel growing up and with their kids.
Banned Books
This week (the third week in September) honors Banned Books – which, again, as a former teacher and avid reader, I’m always struck by so many amazing, transformative books that are banned. Books that have influenced my philosophy on travel, parenting, adventure and humanity. Books like the Diary of Anne Frank:
Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is still sometimes taken off shelves or reading lists. Not because students might get nightmares to read how the Frank family had to hide in an attic until they were dragged into Nazi death camps, but because at one, brief point, 14-year-old Anne describes her maturing anatomy. (Source: NPR)
As I think about other books that have influenced me, so many have been banned (A Wrinkle In Time, Harry Potter, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)!
10 Books to Read Around The World With Kids
Reading stories from other parts of the world helps your kids appreciate other cultures – and I admittedly, love to share some favorite banned books with my kids. Take your kids to the library or your favorite bookstore, find some great books, and go on a virtual vacation! If you don’t know where to start, I’ve made a list of 10 of my favorites:
Picture Books:
- Around the world with Mouk: A Trail of Adventure
- Little People Big Dreams Series: We love Anne Frank, Frida Kahlo and Maya Angelou
- Lin Yi’s Lantern
- Mama, Do You Love Me?
- Elena’s Serenade
Middle Grade:
- Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl
- Island of the Blue Dolphins
- Echo
- I Will Always Write Back
- Inside Out and Back Again
Do you have favorite books from around the world? What about books that have influenced your philosophy on travel and life? Do you have a favorite banned book or one that you love?
Read my booklist from around the world, my favorite Independent Bookstores (Malaprop’s in Asheville has a banned books section) and how we use libraries for more than books!
