Turn It Up & Tell the World - Travel & the Great Outdoors

Books for the Week of June 22 - 28

Check out these awesome staff recommended titles and join in this week’s discussion on Facebook, Twitter, and the Bookshare website.  You can also find other great titles by category using Advanced Search.

• Dodsworth in Paris by Tim Egan (grades K-2). Dodsworth and his faithful duck friend travel to Paris, where they meet lots of interesting people – and of course, duck finds lots of trouble!
• How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague (grades 1-3). US only, but very amusing and with great illustrations!) Wallace Bleff tells his schoolmates about the craziest cow-poking vacation ever!
• Junie B., First Grader: Aloha-Ha-Ha! by Barbara Park (grades 1-4). The irrepressible Junie heads for a week in “pair-o-dice!” with her trusty camera and journal.  Will Hawaii survive? Case of the Trail Mix-Up (Wright & Wong #3) by Laura J. Burns (grades 3-6). While on a class camping trip, has Agatha and Orville’s friend Stu been spirited away by the monster of a nearby lake?
• Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool (grades 5-8). Two boys find themselves alone, and set out to explore the Appalachian Trail – to find more adventure than they bargained for!
• The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel (grades 5-8).  Available to US plus a couple other countries, but one of School Library Journal’s best picks of 2014.  On a train’s maiden journey across Canada, Will encounters surprises and dangers.  Can his new friends help him save his father – and the train itself – from disaster?
• Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard (grades 9-12). Bria thinks a trip to Central America is the key to reinventing herself.  Change comes, but not how she expected.
• Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen (grades 9-12). Schneider Family Award-winning account of Sam’s cross-country odyssey to find the truth about his family and himself.
• Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (grades 9-12). Very well reviewed, but has a lot of non-textual elements.  Amy hopes that her road trip from California to Connecticut will help her grieve her father’s death – but detours do not offer distractions from the truth.
• The Most Beautiful Walk in the World by John Baxter (adults). For a year, the expatriate author found himself leading “literary walking tours” of Paris.  Now he shares with you the glowing heart of the City of Lights.
• Wild Coast: Travels on South America’s Untamed Edge by John Gimlette (adults). Adventurous travelers will gulp down this compelling tale of a modern expedition along the steamy coasts of Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.
• Route 66 Companion (adults). The classic American highway, and the quintessential road trip, are explored by such diverse writers as John Steinbeck, Raymond Chandler, Sylvia Plath, and Leslie Marmon Silko.