TRAVEL NON-FICTION

You Are Here summer book list #3 is Non-Fiction Travel, or true tales of travels around the world.  Place a hold on one of the books below by clicking on the title, which will take you to the online catalog.  You will need your library card barcode, and your PIN (last 4 digits of your telephone number).

 

TAKE A TRUE TALES JOURNEY

The Discovery of Jeanne Baret: A Story of Science, the High Seas, and the First Woman to Circumnavigate the Globe, 

by Glynis Ridley, 2010.

In a deeply researched and engagingly written narrative of science, adventure, love, and a voyage of discovery, Ridley tells the true story of Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.
 

Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing, 1959.

An account of an astonishing feat of exploration and human courage. In August of 1914, the British ship, Endurance, set sail for the South Atlantic. In October, 1915, still half a continent away from its intended base, the ship was trapped, then crushed in the ice. For five months, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men, were castaways, drifting on ice packs.
 

Europe From a Backpack: 

Real Stories From Young Travelers Abroad, 

edited by Mark Pearson and Martin Westerman, 2004.  

A collection of short essays by students who made the trek across the ocean in search of adventures. Maps.
 

Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future, by Greg Melville, 2008.  

The quest: to be the first people to drive cross-country in a french-fry car. Part adventure, part investigation, of what we're doing (or not doing) to preserve the planet.  Upbeat, funny, and full of surprising information.

How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, 

by writer & artist, Sarah Glidden, 2010.  

A graphic memoir that chronicles the author's Israeli government sponsored trip through Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and Masada and a non-chaperoned trip into the West Bank.

  

An Indian Winter, by Russell Freedman, 1992.

  The experiences of a German prince, his servant, and a young Swiss artist as they traveled through the Missouri River Valley in 1833 learning about the territory and its inhabitants.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, 

by Jon Krakauer, 1997.  

The story of a disastrous expedition that claimed the lives of eight climbers.  Krakauer describes his spring 1996 trek to Mt. Everest, and explains why he survived. 

 

The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan 

with Doctors Without Borders, 

by Emmanuel Guibert, 2009.  

In 1986, Afghanistan was torn apart by a war with the Soviet Union.  This graphic novel/photo-journal is a record of one reporter’s arduous & dangerous journey through Afghanistan, accompanying the Doctors Without Borders.

Rite of Passage: Tales of Backpacking 'Round Europe, 

edited by Lisa Johnson, 2003.  

Backpackers on their first visit to Europe tell it like it really is. They describe crossing the language barrier in Corfu, meeting locals in Prague, hostel life in London, finding love in Paris & overindulging in Greece.

To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story, 

by Casey Scieszka, 2011.   

Covers the nearly two-year odyssey that Casey & Steven embarked on, after graduating from college in 2006.  Explores each nation's language, politics, traditions, & food.  Illustrated by Steven Weinberg.

 

Washed Up: The Curious Journeys of Flotsam & Jetsam, 

by Skye Moody, 2006.   

The travels of marine debris.  From rubber ducks and beeswax to refrigerators and dead whales. 

 

I Wouldn't Start From Here: 

The 21st Century and Where It All Went Wrong, 

by Andrew Mueller, 2007. 

Wanting to find out why people in ravaged-torn countries turned to war as a resolution, a rock journalist heads to Kabul, Belfast, Gaza, and other war-ridden nations to get the stories straight from the source.

TIME TRAVEL

"You Are Here summer book list #2 is Time Travel.  Journey to the past or to the future, on this planet or off. Titles on this list will be on display, in the Young Adult area, throughout the summer.  Have a comment or question?  Have a suggestion for a travel book list? Tell me about it below in the comments area. 

TAKE A TRIP IN TIME

Alice in Time, Penelope Bush, 2011.

As her self-centered behavior spirals out of control, 14-year-old Alice gets an unusual chance to fix her whole disastrous life when she is mysteriously spirited back in time.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, by Mark Twain, 1889.

Hank is transported from 19th century Connecticut back to 13th century England.  Using knowledge of an impending eclipse, Hank escapes a death sentence, secures a position at court, and introduces 19th century technology.  A satire that pokes fun at romanticized notions of chivalry.   

Doomsday Box, by Herbie Brennan, 2011.

Working on a highly-classified espionage project, four English teenagers go back in time to the Cold War in 1962 to prevent a global outbreak of the bubonic plague in the twenty-first century.

Firestorm (first book in Caretaker Trilogy), by David Klass, 2006.

After learning that he has been sent from the future for a special purpose, 18-year-old Jack receives help from an unusual dog and a shape-shifting female fighter.

Key Out of Time (4th book in Time Trader series), by Andre Norton, 1963.

Time agents Gordon and Ross are on the hunt for alien artifacts, on a world where most of the surface is water. Traveling to the planet’s past, they find themselves caught in a struggle between rival cultures waged with a mixture of technology and magic.

Pathfinder, by Orson Scott Card, 2010.

13-year-old Rigg has a secret ability to see the paths of others' pasts, but revelations after his father's death set him on a quest that brings new threats from those who would either control his destiny or kill him.

Revolutions, by Jennifer Donnelly, 2010

A 17-year-old musician facing expulsion from her prestigious Brooklyn private school travels to Paris to complete a school assignment, and uncovers a diary written during the French revolution by a young actress attempting to help the young, Louis Charles, the lost king of France.

Singing the Dogstar Blues, by Alison Goodman, 2003.

In a future Australia, the 18-year-old daughter of a famous newscaster and a sperm donor, teams up with a hermaphrodite from the planet Choria in a time travel adventure that may significantly change both of their lives.

So This Is How It Ends(1st book Avatar series), by Tui Sutherland, 2006.

During an earthquake in the year 2012 five teens are transported 75 years into the future, where the end of the world is imminent, and are drawn together by a mysterious force.

Transall Saga, by Gary Paulsen, 1998.

While backpacking in the desert, 13-year-old Mark falls into a tube of blue light and is transported into a more primitive world, where he must use his knowledge and skills to survive.  

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead, 2009.

As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a 12-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.

Winter Shadows, by Margaret Buffie, 2010.

Tells the joined stories of Cass, whose father remarried a woman with an ill-tempered daughter; and Beatrice, who more than a century earlier explores her own problems through a journal that connects both girls.

ROAD TRIPS

You Are Here is the 2011 statewide summer reading theme for teens.  For adults the theme is "Novel Destinations," and for children it is "One World, Many Stories."  I will use "You Are Here" over the course of the summer as a launching point for a few book lists featuring travel in various forms, such as: Road Trips, Time Travel, World Travel, Space Travel, and Travel Nonfiction, etc.  Titles from the lists will be on display in the Young Adult area of the Library through August.   

TAKE A ROAD TRIP

As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth, by Lynne Perkins, 2010.

A teen boy encounters one comedic calamity after another when his train strands him in the middle of nowhere, & everything comes down to luck.

The Car, by Gary Paulsen, 1994. 

A teenager travels west, on his own, in a kit car he built himself, and along the way picks up two Vietnam veterans, who take him on an eye-opening journey.

Going Bovine, by Libba Bray, 2009.

Cameron Smith, a disaffected 16 year-old who, after being diagnosed with Creutzfeld Jakob's (mad cow) disease, sets off on a road trip to find a cure, with a death-obsessed video gaming dwarf he meets in the hospital.

Hit the Road, by Caroline Cooney, 2005.

Sixteen-year-old Brittany acts as chauffeur for her grandmother and three other eighty-plus-year-old women going to what is supposedly their college reunion, on a long drive that involves lies, theft, and kidnappings.

 

How to be Bad, by E. Lockhart; Sarah Mlynowski; Lauren Myracle, 2008.
Told in alternating voices, Jesse, Vicks, & Mel, hoping to leave all their worries & woes behind, escape by taking a road trip to Miami.

In the Path of Falling Objects, by Andrew Smith, 2009.

In 1970, after their older brother is shipped off to Vietnam, sixteen-year-old Jonah and his younger brother Simon leave home to find their father, who is being released from an Arizona prison, but soon find themselves hitching a ride with a violent killer.

Paper Towns, by John Green, 2008.

One month before graduating from his Florida high school, Quentin "Q" basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.

Rainbow Road, by Alex Sanchez, 2007.

While driving across the United States during the summer after high school graduation, three young gay men encounter various bisexual & homosexual people & make some decisions about their own relationships & lives.

Roughing It, by Mark Twain, 1888.

From stagecoach travel to the etiquette of prospecting, Twain relates the true-ish escapades of his 5 years of travels in the American West from 1861 to 1866.  Informative as well as humorous.

Solace of the Road, by Siobhan Dowd, 2009.

While running away from a London foster home just before her fifteenth birthday, Holly has ample time to consider her years of residential care and her early life with her Irish mother, whom she is now trying to reach.

The Things A Brother Knows, by Dana Reinhardt, 2010.

Three years after serving overseas in the Marines, Levi's brother, Boaz, returns to his Boston suburb a hero. After isolating himself from the family, Boaz announces his plans to hike the Appalachian Trail, yet Levi suspects his brother has another itinerary in mind.

You Don't Know About Me, by Brian Meehl, 2011.

Billy has spent his almost-16 years with four cardinal points--Mother, Christ, Bible, and Home-school--but when he sets off on a wild road trip to find the father he thought was dead, he learns much about himself and life.

 

Zigzag, by Ellen Wittlinger, 2003.

A high-school junior makes a trip with her aunt and two cousins, discovering places she did not know existed and strengths she did not know she had.