3 Great "Travel" Series for Elementary and Middle School Readers (AND A BOOK GIVEAWAY!)

I'm always on the lookout for books that are appropriate for early readers, and it seems especially hard to find ones that are interesting for boys.  There are so many series written for girls (most of them about horses, friends who have horses, friends who are horses, horses who are friends, and horse camps.  Judging by early reader series books, 8 - 12 year old girls are only interested in horses, and they all go to horse camp.  Who knew there were so many horse camps???)   

Anyway, good books for young boys are hard to find.  It's partly because I'm pretty picky (like we don't read books about underwear and boogers, and we try to avoid books with snarky kids, bickering siblings, or pushover parents.)  And partly because, in my experience, boys don't really want to read about all the female tween drama that takes place at sleep away horse camp.  

So, we're left with very little.  

In my post on all the books we got for Christmas I mentioned that we have even more new books floating around the house.  I've recently discovered three new series of books that I knew would be just perfect for my boys!!!!  (They're actually totally appropriate for girls, too!)  And of course, I'm going to share them with you!

Greetings from Somewhere
(I "rate" this for early to mid Elementary level readers) 

                   

This series initially caught my eye because it's about a brother and sister who are homeschooled as their family travels the world. (Their mother is a travel writer for a newspaper.)   Before they leave (first book in the series, The Mystery of the Gold Coin), their grandfather gives twins Ethan and Ella a journal for taking travel notes and "solving mysteries," and the twins find plenty of "mysteries" to record and solve as they travel to China, to India, to Australia, Paris, and more.  

These books have at least one illustration per page spread, so it's appealing to younger readers and helps an early reader progress quickly through the book (b/c there aren't two full pages of text together.)  These homeschooled twins learn plenty throughout the world that is their school room - there are lots of language, cultural, and historical tidbits throughout the books.  


I think there are currently eight books in this series.  

Race the Wild
(I "rate" this for mid to late Elementary level readers) 

                       

Russell enters an event which can best be described as The Amazing Race for kids.  He's hoping to participate with his friends, but instead gets placed on a team with four strangers.  Russell and his teammates use clues and their knowledge of the area in which they're adventuring (Amazon rain forest, the Arctic tundra, the Savanna, etc...) to advance to the next location and level of the race.  While the kids have to rely on their own knowledge, planning, and execution of challenges to succeed, there are adult supervisors.  So you can rest easy ;)

I've read the first two books in the series and haven't found anything I'd label objectionable.  One of the features that make these books interesting and a little different is that there are "extras" throughout  - additional information on animals, habitats, or concepts regarding ecosystems and the natural world mentioned in the text.  

There are currently four books in this series, with two more set to come out later this year.  

Travels with Gannon and Wyatt

(I "rate" this for middle school level readers) 

                        

These books also happen to be about homeschooled twins.  Brothers Gannon and Wyatt, and their escapades in the worldwide classroom, are based on the author's own real life twins, who were similarly homeschooled and well-traveled.  The books are written as if they were the journal of the brothers, who record their discoveries and adventures as they travel from Botswana and Egypt in Africa, to Ireland, Greenland, and Canada.  Though the brothers have very different personalities (which come through in their individual journal entries) they share a love of exploration, excitement, and travel!  Kids who enjoy the books will also enjoy the travelswithgannonandwyatt.com website with supplemental travel photos and video.  

The books contain maps and photographs of animals, land forms, etc... from the story.  Each book also includes a photo of the real life Gannon and Wyatt on location, which was cool for my son, who was super into the fact that they were actual adventure-loving boys :)  

There are currently five books in this series.  

BOOK GIVEAWAY!!

OK, so now for the giveaway part!!  I have a copy of the first book in the Greetings from Somewhere series, The Mystery of the Gold Coin, to give away!  To enter, leave a comment here telling us about a series that your early readers have enjoyed (it's even cool if it's about horse camp!!).  Also,  stop by the Ordinary Lovely facebook page, and visit the Ordinary Lovely Instagram account and tag a friend in the the book giveaway post.  The more book-loving friends here, the merrier!  

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