where shall we go today?

"The world first opens up to children in the pages of great books, taking them in their imaginations to fascinating places near and far: a farmhouse on Prince Edward Island, a cave on the banks of the Mississippi River, a long-ago village in Holland, a convent school in Paris, a fancy hotel in New York City. " ~ Storybook Travels by Bates and Latempa.

teddy photo: inspired by . . .

Since I grew up on a tiny island in the Pacific, the world of my childhood was indeed very small. Unlike our mainland cousins, we couldn’t pile into the car and drive to another state come summer or Easter vacation.

The most exciting thing we did was drive around O’ahu, which, if including the obligatory lunch and snack stops, could be accomplished in about 2-3 hours. If one did this once or twice a year for 12+ consecutive years, you can easily see how soon it would lose its magic.

Thank god for books, which introduced me to so many wondrous, faraway places. Whether they were fantastical, like Oz, Narnia, or a delicious chocolate factory, or real, like New York City, Paddington Station, or Paris, in my child’s mind they were all make-believe.

Paddington Station, London (photo: dms246).

As an adult, wanting to finally see some of those "real" places is what prompted me to move to England — home of Beatrix Potter, Lewis Carroll, A.A. Milne, Michael Bond, Charles Dickens, the Brontës, and P.L. Travers. Seems like I’ve been on a "storybook setting" journey ever since, always keen to check out not only where my favorite stories took place, but where their authors lived and worked.

Recently, I enjoyed doing some armchair traveling via Storybook Travels: From Eloise’s New York to Harry Potter’s London, Visits to 30 of the Best-Loved Landmarks in Children’s Literature by Colleen Dunn Bates and Susan Latempa (Three Rivers Press, 2002). It was fun seeing how many of the locations I’ve already visited, and which ones I still hope to see.

So far, I’ve done these:

Alcotts’ Orchard House, Concord, MA (photo: TalkingTree).

Hannibal, Missouri (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain)

London, England (A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond)

San Francisco, California (Child of the Owl by Laurence Yep)

New York, New York (Eloise by Kay Thompson)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC (From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

London, Windsor, Durham, England (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling)

Concord, Massachusetts (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)

Paris, France (Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans)

Boston, Massachusetts (Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey)

Lake District, England (Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter)

Beatrix Potter’s Hill Top Farm, Near Sawrey, Lake District (photo: woodytyke).

Alynwick Castle, Northumberland (photo: Martyn Pearson).

Places I still want to see:

Wilder Home, De Smet, South Dakota (photo: milepost36).

All the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House locations (especially Rocky Ridge Farm near Mansfield, Missouri)

Collodi, Tuscany, Italy (Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi)

Prince Edward Island (Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery)

Taos, New Mexico (And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold)

Graubunden, Switzerland (Heidi by Johanna Spyri)

Channel Islands National Park, Ventura/Santa Barbara, California (Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell)

Isle of Mull, Scotland (Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Giverny, France (Linnea in Monet’s Garden by Christina Bjork)

Portland, Oregon (Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary)

For each location, the authors have included a summary of the book, personal experiences with their own children, and a travel itinerary with age recommendations, names and numbers. Chances are very good that if you hadn’t thought of visiting these places before, you’ll definitely be tempted to reread the books pronto and pack your bags.

While I have you here, what are some of your favorite storybook places? Which of the ones I’ve listed here have you visited? Do you have any dream destinations?

Fair to say that 90% of the trips I’ve taken in my lifetime have been inspired by books I’ve read. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to meet Madeline in Paris for lunch, and Eloise at the Plaza for dinner. Come along, if you like!

Madeline (Charles Brown); Eloise (courtney_gripling27).