The Next Best Book Club discussion

Hello everybody :)

My name is Sanja [sanya] and I'm from Serbia, ilona introduced me to this idea. It is a great challenge, I really liked it and decided to do it together with my kids. They are both girls, 10&8 yo, and we now live in the US where they don't learn much about the world in school and they usually choose to read about dragons and vampires. So I thought this could definitely add to their education :)

We started from Canada, as my mistake in not reading the rules properly. And when my daughter's 5th grade teacher heard about our challenge, she brought us a book set in Guatemala, so this is next. We decided to read a book from every region, different country every time so we will go in circles of 8 :)

Here's our map: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&...

A-Z
A
B - Brazil
C - Canada, Cuba
D
E
F
G - Guatemala
H - Hawaii
I
J
K - Kenya
L
M - Mongolia
N - New Zealand
O
P - Peru
Q
R
S - Sweden
T - Tunisia
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Our list:

1. Canada:
Natasha: And Other Stories

Secret of the Night Ponies
No Small Thing

2. Guatemala:
Betrayed

Tree Girl
The Girl from Chimel

3. Peru:
Keep the River on Your Right

Secret of the Andes
Thea Stilton and the Secret City

4. New Zealand:

Potiki

River Song

5. Mongolia:

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade
Sorghaghtani of Mongolia

6. Kenya:
Bill Bryson's African Diary

Burn My Heart
Seeds of Change

7. Tunisia:
The Immoralist

Benny and Omar

8. Sweden:
Two Women: A Novel of Friendship

The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking

9. Hawaii:
Flirting with Forty

Legends of Hawaii
The Horse Charmer

8. Cuba:
Take Me with You: A Memoir

Raining Sardines
My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood

9. Brazil:

For my first book, I got the idea from your suggestions - Unless, Carol Shields and I love it so far, so thanks :)

***edit: turns out I didn't like it. I read Natasha by David Bezmozgis instead.

For the kids, I just searched through the library catalogue and they chose these:
- Secret of the night ponies, Joan Hiatt Harlow
- No small thing, Natale Ghent

If some of you ever have an idea for a book that children could read, please share.

Sanja, I am thrilled to hear you are doing this with your daughters, I think it's a great idea. I think your girls might enjoy visiting the world through some of these titles:
South Africa- The White Giraffe
Ireland- Maura's Angel
Australia- Away With the Birds
Mozambique- A Girl Named Disaster
England- The White Witch
Panama- Rainy Season
China- North of Beautiful
New Zealand- Guardian of the Dead
Mexico- Blood Secret
Denmark- Number the Stars
Liberia- Beyond the Mango Tree

Welcome Sanja & daughters!

My kids are the exact same age as yours (except one is a boy) and I am VERY ashamed to admit that this has never occurred to me. Thanks for the inspiration! Now to convince them...

its a graphic novel, but for Iran - Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

for Japan - Heart of a Samurai or the series that starts with Across the Nightingale Floor (its supposed to be good, but I haven't gotten to it yet0

Wow, that's a great idea. I wonder if I could convince my teens...

there is a link on the Country Lists topic posted by Teresa - http://www.bibliotravel.com/
you can enter a country and it will give a list of books that have been added for that country, along with the genre. There is also a tab for genre's and you can pull up books for children. hope it helps and good luck with your challenge.

Thank you for all the great suggestions. I hope some of you will convince your kids too :) My older one already finished her book, but the younger one will need a little push :)

The magic tree house series by Mary Pope Osborne takes place in locations all over the world.

They also do not need to adhere to the 100 page rule, since a lot of books for their age levels tend to be shorter than those of adults.

This site might be useful for you: http://www.travelforkids.com/

We are now in Guatemala with
Betrayed
Tree Girl
The Girl from Chimel

Thanks again for all the suggestions :)

This is such a great idea! I loved reading with my mom when I was a kid.

One of my favourite books from school was I Am David by Anne Holm. I takes place mostly in Italy. It is a wonderful story! I highly recommend it for you and your children.

Also, for some British classics, The Secret Garden and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett were also two that I loved when I was a little girl.

By the way, my husband lived in Serbia for 6 weeks a few years ago. He loved it! Would you have a good recipe for Burek? We've tried to make it a few times but it hasn't been as good as it was there. :)

Thank you for the recommendations :) The Secret Garden was my favorite when I was little, so nice to remember it :)

As for burek, I will send you a private message :)

The 2 older members are in Peru as of today. The youngest one is still in Canada :)))

We have visited New Zealand and Mongolia:

Potiki

River Song

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade
Sorghaghtani of Mongolia

We have also discovered the wonderful dvd series "Globe Trekker" and watched them back from the beginning in Canada.

Next is Kenya.

Great idea to include the kids. I just had a look at some of the books I read back in the days that may be suitable for the challenge:

Heidi - Switzerland
Pippi Longstocking (or really anything by Astrid Lindgren) - Sweden
The Little Prince - France

sanja_plus2 wrote: "We have visited New Zealand and Mongolia:

Potiki

River Song

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens

I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade
..."

this would be a great challenge for homeschooler families!

Kenya and Tunisia, and we're next in Sweden.

6. Kenya:
Bill Bryson's African Diary

Burn My Heart
Seeds of Change

7. Tunisia:
The Immoralist

Benny and Omar

You're doing great! It's wonderful that you are getting your kids to love reading too.

We have finish our first round in Europe, and we started the second round from Hawaii.
8. Sweden:
Two Women: A Novel of Friendship

The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking

9. Hawaii:
Flirting with Forty

Legends of Hawaii
The Horse Charmer

Next is Cuba.

As time passes, we love this challenge more and more. It is going slowly, but we are really enjoying it a lot, sometimes not being able to restrict ourselves to one book and one film only. And I can see that some of their world views have already changed, they think more deeply about some everyday things. So, thanks again for this wonderful idea.

Finished Cuba, off to Brazil

8. Cuba:
Take Me with You: A Memoir

Raining Sardines
My Havana: Memories of a Cuban Boyhood

I loved Take Me with You, my favorite on this list.