Reading Suggestions

Here are some books that will help you journey to ancient Greece.

Adventures of Ulysses by Bernard Evslin
The leader of the Greek forces, sometimes called Odysseus, returning from Troy encounters the Cyclops, the beautiful sorceress Circe and more, as he tries to ward off the anger of the gods.

Dorling Kindersley Classics: The Odyssey by Adrian Mitchell and illustrated by Stuart Robertson
Here is a retelling of this ancient yet timeless tale of war, jealousy, loyalty, and love that captures all the excitement, mystery, and power of Homer's original epic.

The immortal by Christopher Pike
Two high school friends visit the sacred island of Delos and discover a link with the world of Greek deities.

Odysseus in the Serpent Maze by Jane Yolen
What was Odysseus like as a teenager? This swashbuckling, almost slapstick adventure imagines the epic hero as a 13-year-old who's at once brash, insecure, and wise.

The Princess and the God by Doris Orgel
Princess Psyche's beauty incurs the wrath of the goddess Venus who sends her son Cupid to seek revenge.

Sirena by Donna Jo Napoli
During the time of the Trojan War, a mermaid rescues a human man and they fall in love.

Waiting for Odysseus by Clemence McLaren
The story of his voyage is one of the great tales of Western civilization--but meanwhile, what about the women who loved and yearned for this handsome, crafty hero? Also try Inside the Walls of Troy.

These books will help you travel the U.S.A.

America's Historic Trails With Tom Bodett by Tom Bodett with J. Kingston Pierce
Featuring maps and travel information, an illustrated companion book to the thirteen-part public television series leads travelers and history buffs along ten extant wilderness trails and wagon roads that helped shape American history

Backwater by Joan Bauer
Ivy is determined to interview her aunt who lives alone in a remote cabin in the Adirondacks.

Charles Kuralt's American Moments by Charles Kuralt
A collection of brief essays on the people, places and ideas that define the American spirit, this is a good book to sample.

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
Dicey (13) and her younger sister and brothers are abandoned in a car in a shopping mall when their mother disappears. Dicey knows she must find more than a place to stay. They need a home.

I'm a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson takes a humorous look at America when he returns after spending 20 years in England

Shadowmaker by Joan Lowery Nixon
Katie and her journalist mother move from Houston to a small coastal town in search of peace, but instead they encounter deception and murder.

Squashed by Joan Bauer
As a sixteen-year-old pursues her two goals--growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa and losing twenty pounds herself--she strengthens her relationship with her father and meets a young man with interests similar to her own.

Taking Sides by Gary Soto
After he moves to the suburbs, Lincoln learns about loyalty, change, and friendship when he plays with the basketball team at his new school against his old buddies from the barrio.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
On a six-day road trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca weaves a tale of missing mothers and hidden truths.

The Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
The Watsons travel from their Michigan home to Alabama to visit Grandma.

Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
After Brent causes the death of a girl, he travels to the four corners of the country to build whirligigs in her memory.

These books will help you tour the world

The Cay by Theodore Taylor
A boy is blinded in an accident that strands him with an old Black man on a tiny Caribbean island.

Dove by Robin Lee Graham
Robin Lee Graham was like a lot of baby boomers, but when he dropped out at age 16, he dropped into exotic places like Fanning Island, Papeetee, and the Indian Ocean. More travelogue than sailing guide, DOVE gave it's readers glimpses of places rarely visited

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
A useful map helps readers follow the journey of 11-year-old Nhamo as she flees her village in Mozambique by foot and boat to escape a forced marriage.

Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye
Fourteen years old and just kissed for the first time, Liyana isn't sure she wants to join her family as her father plans to take them to Jerusalem to see the people and places he knew before he came to St. Louis, Missouri.

Incredible Journey by Sheila Burford
Instinct told them that the way home lay to the west. And so the doughty young Labrador retriever, the roguish bull terrier and the indomitable Siamese set out through the Canadian wilderness.

Polar Dream: The Heroic Saga of the First Solo Journey by a Woman and Her Dog to the Pole by Helen Thayer
Ever dream of journeying to the Magnetic North Pole? Helen Thayer did, and in 1988, at temperatures that averaged 50 below, with only a husky as her companion, she became the first woman to ski to the North Pole alone. Click on this link to see what she has been doing more recently.

Satellite Down by Rob Thomas
Does high school journalist Patrick Sheridan have what it takes to anchor a classroom news show that takes him all over the world?

Storyteller's Beads by Jane Kurtz
Two young Ethiopians grow past their antagonism in this sensitive, from-the-heart tale of refugees fleeing a drought-and violence-stricken land. The only survivors of a massacred family, Sahay and her uncle set out for Sudan, joining, to Sahay's dismay, a band of Ethiopian Jews--the Falasha, or strangers, she has been taught to fear and despise

Torn Away by James Heneghan
Orphaned by the fighting in Northern Ireland, Declan is uprooted from his home and forced to live with his uncle in Canada.

Troubling a Star by Madeleine L'Engle
As she tries to stay alive after being left on an iceberg in the Antarctic, sixteen-year-old Vicky recalls the series of events that brought her to the bottom of the world and involved her in a dangerous mystery.

The Wanderer by Sharon Creech
Sophie and Cody record their journey to England on the sailboat, the Wanderer. Family dynamics and secrets keep the reader guessing as the Wanderer moves closer and closer to its final destination.