Celebrate travel reading on International Children's Book Day!

What was your favorite book growing up? Come on, confess...was it something imaginative by Dr. Seuss or maybe a classic like Tanglewood Tales? Perhaps you have copies of the Harry Potter books stashed away or a dog-eared copies of Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys mysteries stashed away. Today, is a great day to recapture the excitement, pleasure, satisfaction and joy reading that favorite book gave you and sharing that experience with the children in your life because today is International Children's Book Day!

Every year, adults and children around the world celebrate International Children's Book Day on or near Hans Christian Anderson's birthday. He would be 204 years old today. April is also the 10th Birthday of the Maricopa County Library District's Southeast Regional Library branch.

Travel Books for Young Readers

“One of my favorite things about travel books for children is that they show other kids traveling the world,” said Brandi Stewart, Children's Buyer at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe. “They [travel books] broaden children's horizons even if they don't go anywhere.”

Stewart's favorite travel book for children is The Travel Game by John Gandits. She also recommends three book series to help keep young readers minds occupied during long waits: the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, the Magic Treehouse and Sluggers. Changing Hands is located at: 6428 S. McClintock Dr. (corner of Guadlupe Rd. and McClintock Dr.) in Tempe.

If your family is or will be visiting Arizona soon, here are some great travel guides especially for kids:

My First Pocket Guide to Arizona by Carole Marsh (ISBN 9780793399079) published in September 2000
Awesome Arizona Places for Curious Kids by Diane T. Liggett & James A. Mack (ISBN 1565795237) published in 2005
A Journey with the Spider and Snake to Arizona by Beatrice Cook, Adrian Campis (Illustrator (ISBN 9780979586795) published in November 2007

A-Maze-Ing Arizona, from Rising Moon ( ISBN 9780873588096) has thirty mazes to help keep young travelers busy during long drives, flights or planes rides as will their Great Southwest Activity Book (ISBN 9780873588447). Changing Hand's Stewart also suggests Travel Bingo, Road Trip Trivia, and Lost Treasures of Pirates of Caribbean for something to do along the way.

Although not specifically travel book, there are many enjoyable reads for kids that are set in Arizona.
If That Breathes Fire We're Toast by Jennifer J. Stewart (ISBN 9780823414307), is a great book about starting over in Arizona (Tucson, actually) for children reading at the 3rd or 4th grade levels. Fans of the New Sugar Creek Gang series won't want to miss The Case of the Dinosaur in the Desert (ISBN 0802486649). Another excellent series book with an Arizona setting as well as a connection to the Phoenix area is The Mystery of Lost Mine (ISBN 0807554286) in the Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner.

Older children and teens, as well as adults, can revisit the Old West and Arizona's colorful past in many of Zane Grey books. Visitors can also visit a replica (the original which had been built in the 1920's was completely destroyed by the Dude Fire in 1990) of Grey's cabin in Payson. The nearby Rim County Museum houses many Zane Grey artifacts as well. Other Arizona authors or authors writing about Arizona whose works may be of interest to young readers are Conard Storad, who writes non-fiction books about the natural world for young readers and Jennifer Ward, a graduate of Arizona State University who also write about the natural world for children.

“The great thing about traveling with books is that books are portable,” explained Stewart. “Kids can read anywhere, in the car, on a train, in the airport, at the hotel, on a plane or anywhere a book can be carried.”

Don't Forget the Library!

The library may not be a top travel destination for many. The Southeast Regional Library, however, is worth the trip. The state of the art facility is adjacent to the Riparian Institute at Water Ranch, so inaddition to reading about Arizona plants and animals, young (and not so young) travel readers can try to spot them! Library patrons and visitors are invited to drop in to the Southeast Regional Library between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and share what the library has meant to them in words or pictures. Check at the Information Desk for more information. The Southeast Regional Library is located at 775 N. Greenfield Rd. (corner of Guadalupe and Greenfield Roads) in Gilbert.

Other children's reading events around the Valley today include:
Ranger Pat sharing amazing tales of Arizona wildlife at the Civic Center Library in downtown Phoenix. There are two sessions the first from 10:30 to 11:00 for 4 and 5 year olds and the second from 4:00 to 4:30 for school age kids.

At the Northwest Regional Library, bi-lingual children ages 4 to 5 can get a head start for school with Ready, Set Read! En Sus Marcas, Listos, a Leer! From 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

The pre-K audience can also find story time at the Litchfield Park Library from 10 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and the Southeast Regional Library from 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.. One- and two-year-olds (accompanied by an adult) can enjoy their own story time from 10:15 a.m. to 10:35 a.m. at the Southeast Regional Library while babies and mommies (or daddies) can share story time at the Litchfield Park Library between 9:13 a.m. and 9:45 a.m., the Northwest Regional Library from 9:30 a.m. until 10:15 a.m. and the North Valley Regional Library beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Find out more about these and other literary events offered through the Maricopa County Library District by visiting www.mcldaz.org.

Grown-ups needing some help selecting the best book for a child can consult their local children's librarian, bookseller or the Guide Book to Gift Books an annotated list of great new books for kids published annually by the staff of the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. The Guide Book to Gift Books is free to download from http://bccb.lis.uiuc.edu/gb2/index.html.

Remember, April 2 in International Children's Book Day. Give a child a book. Watch them travel everywhere!

For more info: about Zane Grey, his travels and his writings, visit Zane Grey's West Society (ZGWS) at www.zgws.org. Fans of the author and literary travelers will want to mark their calendars for the 27th Annual ZWGS Conference at Mormon Lake, Arizona on June 15 - 18, 2009!