Books have the capacity to transport us around the world with just a few sentences. This is especially important for young readers who are learning about the world around them for the first time. Here’s a list of books and resources, including non-fiction, fiction, picture books, audiobooks, and educational movies from our digital collection, so you can tour the world from home.
Chapter Books
First up, some nonfiction for 3-6 graders. The “Where Is” series will give a tour of places from the past and present. Visit buildings like the White House, Parthenon, Kremlin, and Colosseum. Go to the Galapagos Islands, Antarctica, or the Bermuda Triangle.
Learn about South Korea in Julie Murray’s image filled fact book or read Tim Grove’s award-winning book First Flight Around the World. Written with the National Air and Space Museum, it tells the story of the 1924 flight to circumnavigate the earth.
If fiction is your favorite, these are super stories that immerse you in their settings:
Bayou Magic by Jewel Parker Rhodes – It’s city girl Maddy’s first summer in the bayou and she loves the glimmering fireflies, glorious landscape and something else, deep within the water, that only she can see. Could it be a mermaid?
Holes by Louis Sachar – Stanley Yelnats is under a curse that began with his great-great-grandfather. Now he’s been unjustly sent to a detention center where boys are forced to dig specifically-sized holes every day, all day. Can he escape?
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia – This middle grade epic fantasy is set in a richly-imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods.
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George – Sam is unhappy with living with his family in New York City, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods – all by himself.
Picture Books
For our littler ones, let’s stowaway on some picture book vacations. We may hop on a surfboard with the Berenstain Bears: The Bear’s Vacation or follow Sally Lloyd-Jones’ Goldfish on Vacation. Salina Yoon’s invited us to Penguin on Vacation, too. If you’re feeling super adventurous, try Hurry and the Monarch by Antoine Ó Flatharta wherein a tortoise befriends a butterfly who’s mid-migration.
Audiobooks
Give your storytelling voice a rest by using audio books on Hoopla. “The Magic School Bus” series provides educational adventures.
The Magic School Bus: On the Ocean Floor travels via submarine with a lifeguard in tow as Miss Frizzle teaches about coral reefs and water vents.
You may choose instead to get The Magic School Bus: Lost in the Solar System. When the planetarium is closed, the bus converts into a spaceship and the class goes to the moon and beyond.
There’s also room for you to trek to The Magic School Bus: In the Time of the Dinosaurs. When the bus becomes a time machine, you’ll go back millions of years to learn about dinosaur habitat and diet as well as a Maiasaura nesting ground.
Movies
Hoopla presents more than 50 of the marvelous "Travel with Kids" movies. Join the Roberts family and see Jamaica. Explore the beaches and rugged interiors, swim with dolphins and manta rays, then climb a waterfall.
Perhaps you’d prefer to see Botswana, Africa. Take a walking safari, get close to a cheetah and spend the night out under the stars, searching for the Southern Cross.
If staying in the U.S. is more your style, you’re welcome to tour Hollywood, California. Bubbling tar pits, crazy movie stunts, and giant hot dogs await you.
All of these titles and many more are waiting for you in our digital collection– let’s go!