Book an Adventure (Part 3 - where the book takes you on an adventure to other places)

Many of the themes chosen for Book Week have leant themselves to travelling to other places...One World Many Stories; Escape to Everywhere; Sail Away With Books, and I have had fun taking students to other countries adventuring. I have used passports, wide reading contracts where the students had to read  books from different countries or continents and focused on places the students may or may not have been. These places make for good adventures.

Some books are very helpful as they do the travelling for you, visiting a whole lot of different places all in one book. These books do that:

• The Best Book in the World  by Rilla Alexander

If you found the best book in the world, would you stop reading? Could you stop reading? If you had homework to do, or dinner to get through, could you put the book down? On a train to the zoo or on a flight to Kalamazoo, would that break the spell? If in a forest you walked, while scary monsters stalked . . . would that be enough? If you'd crossed a desert that baked or were swept off by a river that snaked, would you even take a break?

• Jeremy's Tail  by Duncan Ball

Jeremy is at a birthday party and it is his turn to 'pin the tail on the donkey'. His attempts to locate the donkey take him all the way around the world before successfully returning and pinning the tail accurately.

• Emma Jane's Aeroplane  by Katie Haworth

Emma Jane zooms off in her aeroplane around the cities of the world. Along the way she makes a crew of animal friends who save the day when the little plane gets into trouble...

• A Ticket Around the World  by Natalia Diaz 

Join a young boy as he hops around the globe, visiting friends in 13 different countries spanning all 6 populated continents. Along the way, each friend introduces us to their country's environment and customs, and shares interesting facts about their country's culture, language, food, geography, wildlife, landmarks and more. 

• Papa Brings Me the World  by Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw 

Most parents drive a car or ride a bus or train to work-but not Lulu's papa. He navigates mountains, deserts, and oceans, each time returning home with pockets full of treasures. There's an ancient calculator from China, a musical mbira from Zimbabwe, and special games from Sumatra. But the best treasures are special stories Papa tells when he comes home-tales of playing peek a boo with rare birds in the Andes and riding dragons in the Irish Sea. 

• Walk This World  by Lotta Neiminen

Travel to a new country with every turn of the page, each with new surprises to discover: peep through windows, open doors and delve underground by opening the many lift-flaps designed into every spread.

• One World Many Colours by Ben Lerwill

A lyrical celebration of the vibrant colours waiting to be found in all corners of the world. From the ice-white plains of Antarctica to the soft pink blossoms of the Japanese countryside. 

• My Big World  by Maggie Li

Follow Koko and Alex as they ask questions about the world while intrepid explorers go on adventures to find out how and where we live. Starting from inside the home, Koko and Alex move on to explore the wider world. Step by step the reader encounters different plants and animals, exploring various locations around the world and even visiting outer space! 

• Our World Full of Wonders  by Javita Nilsen

Our world is full of amazing natural wonders. From sparkling seas and towering trees, to valleys, lakes and waterfalls, there are extraordinary places that seem too magical to be true but can be found right here on planet Earth.

•  Atlas of Adventures  by Lucy Letherland

Set your spirit of adventure free with this lavishly illustrated trip around the world. Whether you're visiting the penguins of Antarctica, joining the Carnival in Brazil or a canoe safari down the Zambezi River, this book brings together more than 100 activities and challenges to inspire armchair adventurers of any age. Find hundreds of things to spot and learn new facts about every destination. 

• Wild World  by Angela McAllister

Discover thirteen incredible habitats, from the crystal kingdom Arctic to the dusty savannah and the black-as-space deep sea, in this beautiful tribute to the last wildernesses of our world.

And this book is long out of print, but your library might have it. Ours does.

• Around the World  by Lindsay Barrett George

Here the teacher goes on the adventure. What would you hear and see if you travelled to every corner of of the world in search of wildlife in all its forms? Here is your answer and your passport to adventure. Follow Miss Lewis as she circumnavigates the globe aboard the ship 'Explorer' and reports her experiences in photographs, sketches and letters sent back to her students at home.

Book an Adventure (Part 2 - where the book takes you on a literary adventure)

Sometimes you start reading a book and before you know it you are in a storybook world, a world where you know the characters from other books you've read, fantasy characters are seemingly 'real' or you have slipped into the story adventure that the book is telling you. 

These books do that and they would make a good start for any discussion about a book being able to take you on an adventure:

• Is it a Book or Is it a Plane?  by Mike Henson

Dive into the book that isn't a book and interact with the pages to create exciting new objects and worlds. Fly the book like an aeroplane, wear it like a hat, turn it into a monster mask, transform it into a roaring dinosaur or sail it like a pirate ship! 

 • Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin & Kate Messner

Alice loves to imagine herself in the magical pages of her favorite book. So when it flaps its pages and invites her in, she is swept away to a world of wonder and adventure, riding camels in the desert, swimming under the sea with colourful fish, floating in outer space, and more!

• Come, Read With Me by Margriet Ruurs

Join two young children as they begin an adventure through a world of books. This metered read-aloud pays homage to classic children's literature. Readers will love searching for characters they recognise from fairy tales and beloved picture books amongst the pages. Spiders weave words and mythical dragons soar as the children travel through magical lands.

• When You Open a Book by Caroline Derlatka

This is a stunning ode to the world's grandest adventure of all: reading a book. Gorgeous artwork by Italian illustrator Sara Ugolotti depicts dragons, forests, pirates, merfolk, lollipop trees, lemonade tides, and more as a child journeys through page upon page of the written word.

• I Love a Book  by Joe Rhatigan

This is a celebration of books, reading, and our imaginations. The  lyrical prose becomes more frantic as a young reader encounters pirates sailing the sea, a classroom of monsters "learning math with their paws," and even an animal doctor making house calls in a helicopter.

• The Bridges  by Tom Percival

Mia feels alone; so alone that it's as if she lives on a small island, far out to sea. But then one day, Mia is given a book - the first she has ever been able to call her own. As Mia reads the book, bridges appear and her island fills with colour and life. And the more Mia reads, the stronger the bridges become, opening up a world of connection and hope... 

• No Buddy Like a Book  byAllan Wolf

Step aboard the Word Express. It's leaving from the station. The only ticket needed is your own imagination.Have you ever wanted to climb to the top of Everest with one hand behind your back? Kiss a crocodile all by yourself on the Nile river? How about learning how to bottle moonlight, or track a distant star? There are endless things to discover and whole universes to explore simply by reading a book.

• The Library Book  by Gabby Dawnay

Zach isn't convinced that books are for him - they're too long, they're boring and he would rather watch TV. But thanks to his friend Ro's stubborn efforts, Zach falls for books hook, line and sinker, and loses himself in a world of dinosaurs, princesses, pirates, football and rocketships - anything and everything the library has to offer.

• Shhh! I'm Reading by John Kelly

Bella is reading the best book ever! She’s just gotten to the most amazing part when suddenly, Captain Bluebottom appears and invites her on an adventure. “I’m sorry, Captain,” Bella tells him, “but today, I’d rather just sit and read my book.” So Bella returns to her book and is just about to read the best part when Maurice Penguin shows up and invites her to perform on stage with all the penguins. 

• The Big Book Adventure by Emily Ford and Tim Warnes

Two friends are comparing their adventures of the day. One friend has gone to a tea party, visited with a mermaid, visited Gran in her cottage in the woods with friend Red (and is pretty sure that someone else is lurking in those same woods), and found buried treasure on an island. The other friend has had a similarly busy day – learning how to fly, taking a trip to space and encountering aliens, lunching with a dragon, visiting three bears, and taking a magic carpet ride. Sound impossible? Not with a good book, it isn’t. 

•  Mr Luke's Magic Library Ocean Adventure  by Luke Springer

There’s a special place, hidden within the school. It’s a magical place where the books inside can take readers on journeys beyond their wildest dreams. Mr Luke’s class have opened a magic book and found themselves under the sea communing with a mermaid.

(This reminds me of Ms Frizzle who takes her class on adventures via the magic school bus.)

• Pick a Story series by Sarah Coyle

Pick a Story is the only series where young readers choose between three completely different worlds – allowing them to change the story as it happens. Children are excited by having choice and a feeling of agency, and it fires their imaginations.

• Story Path  by Kate Baker

Travel along the story path and discover an enchanted world where fairy princesses battle with monsters from the deep and vampire cats zoom through the galaxy on silver unicorns. This innovative twist on the classic quest tale allows young readers to choose their own characters, settings and plots at every turn.

       

Book an Adventure (Part 1 - where the books go on the adventure...)

Book an Adventure is the slogan for Australian Children's Book Week this year. 

It is getting to the time when I begin to think about Book Week at school, not so much the displays as usually only focus on one 'pinboard' which in my case is a window, but more on what books I will share with my classes. Of course I look at the shortlisted books, the Early Childhood titles in particular and any Picture Book title or New Illustrator title that is suitable for my audience.

As I only teach children under eight years old, not all the shortlisted books are at their reading level, so I often put more emphasis on the slogan and look at books that epitomise it, so if you are looking for books to start a conversation with your students about books and or adventures, here's some I have thought of so far. (There will be three parts.)

These titles below, feature 'books' that go on an adventure. I often ask my students to imagine where  library books have been. Do they have a good time at your place? We also check when a book last left the library by looking at the date due stamps. We try to ensure 'sad' books get borrowed, ie books that haven't left the library for quite some time are 'rescued' by readers.

• The Book Without a Story by Carolina Rabei is perfect for this. The book in the story, Dusty was put on a high shelf, thus has never left the library and bemoans this fact to the other library books who hatch a plan for the book to be borrowed. It is and it has a very exciting visit to a dinosaur-loving boy's house.

• Otto the Book Bear by Katie Cleminson

Otto is a Book Bear and nothing makes him happier than when people read his book. But he also has a very special secret - when no one is looking he can come to life and explore the house. But one day something terrible happens- Otto's book is left behind when the family moves away, and now there is no one to read Otto! Otto must set off on his biggest adventure yet - to find a new home. 

• Otto the Book Bear in the Snow  by Katie Cleminson

Otto is a bear who lives in a book in the library with his friend, Ernest. They are book bears! Otto and Ernest love nothing more than for their book to be borrowed and read. But this winter they are desperate to get back to the library for the special winter party. It's time for an incredible adventure through the snow...

• Our Incredible Library Book  by Caroline Crowe

This is the story of one incredible library book and all the children who've borrowed it. It's been hugged, lost, torn, chewed by a dog and soaked in the rain. It's been read in apartments and in tents, in the park and in the classroom; by children in costumes and pyjamas, reading alone or with their friends, their siblings and their parents. Each time it returns to the library it's a little more worn, but a lot more loved. For every rip, scribble or stain there's a child who has found adventure or escape, comfort or excitement in its pages.

• The Boy & the Book  by David Michael Slater & Bob Solar

In this wordless story, a library book tries desperately to evade the destructive clutches of a little boy. What drives the Boy, however, is enthusiasm and love-not malice-and the Book eventually responds in kind, accepting his rough but worthy fate.

In this book, the book is the main character

• This Book is Spineless  by Lindsay Leslie 

Don't turn the page! This book has an aversion to adventure and can’t get a sense of what’s on its pages. If readers help it navigate any spooky, slinky, swirly, smelly, or salty stories they encounter together, maybe the book will manage to find a bit of bravery . . .

Sometimes books are found and they get to have a whole new adventure. This is what happens in these books:

• Petunia  by Roger Duvoisin

A silly goose, named Petunia finds a book--and, decides that if she owns a book she must be wise. She prances round the farmyard with her book dispensing hilariously mistaken advice to the other animals.

• The Book Hog  by Greg Pizzoli

The Book Hog loves books the way they look, the way they feel, the way they smell and he'll grab whatever books he can find. There's only one problem: he can't read! But when a kind librarian invites him to join for storytime, this literature-loving pig discovers the treasure that books really are and his books get to go on a new adventure.

• The Good Little Book  by Kyo Maclear

A boy pulls a book off a shelf and with great reluctance begins to read. As the afternoon passes, the story nabs him and carries him away. Before long, this good little book becomes his loyal companion, accompanying him everywhere ... until, one day, the book is lost. Will this bad little boy get back his good little book? Will the good little book survive on its own without a proper jacket?

• The Lonely Book  by Kate Bernheimer

When a wonderful new book arrives at the library, at first it is loved by all, checked out constantly, and rarely spends a night on the library shelf. But over time it grows old and worn, and the children lose interest in its story. The book is sent to the library's basement where the other faded books live. How it eventually finds an honored place on a little girl's bookshelf-and in her heart-makes for an unforgettable story.

• The Lost Library  by Jess McGeachin

When Oliver finds a lost library book in his new bedroom, he decides to return it. But how do you find a mysterious hidden library? With the help of a new friend, of course . . .

And sometimes the book is a valued belonging who is involved in the adventures with the protagonist.

• The Bear and her Book  by Frances Tosdevin

A book-loving bear sets off to see the world. She takes one special thing her Bear's Big Book of Being Wise. But when she meets different creatures - each needing her help - she discovers that books aren't just brilliant at fixing problems - they can also help you make new friends. And if you're lucky, books can take you to a very special place indeed... And there is a sequel,  The Bear and Her Book There's More to See.

Some of these books are either not available anymore or are too expensive but most of them are on Youtube (see the links).