Children’s Book About Costa Rica

Costa Rica-Tabacon Hot Springs, La Fortuna

Destination: Costa Rica

Book: The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Badilly, Costa Rica by Debbie Glade

So far, I have not been able to get my 5-year-old granddaughter to sit still to either listen to me reading the colorful book, The Travel Adventures of Lilly P. Padilly , or to listen to the CD that goes with this children’s travel book. So I am lacking the personal story I was hoping to bring you. You can read a number of positive reviews from parents at the writers web site. Perhaps my granddaughter is just not ready yet.

A music CD that supplements the book was composed and performed by the author, her husband and her daughter.  A lot of good stuff finds its way into this book–the power of music, the excitement of travel, the way to overcome your fears. In fact, too much, I think. I could not tell you what the MAIN theme of the book was.

As a book about going to Costa Rica, it takes an awfully long time to get to the information about Costa Rica. I fear that kids today are so conditioned to quick moving TV shows, that they are not going to have patience with the sidebars here on piano, the struggles the centipede family has on the airplane, etc.

I really like the way it talks about fears and the way that Lillie overcomes them. And there is no question that the humor is about 3rd grade kid-level.

I would welcome the opinion of a mom who may have used this book with her kids. Although it has been quite a few years since my own children were the right age for this book, it seems to me that a book that gets pared down to the essentials might be more effective if you wanted to prepare a child for a visit to Costa Rica. Preparation would include things such as: people are speaking a different language. There is much more vegetation and more flowers than where you came from. The food is different. While these things are mentioned in passing, they get lost in the sidetracks.

Despite the attempt to use music to help transmit the culture of the country, I did not get a sense of joy of visiting a new and beautiful place, or helpful hints about the things your child might have to get used to.

Any help out there? Have you taken your kids to Costa Rica? What were they interested in?  Do you have a children’s book for travel to recommend? I would love to have some moms to write guest posts about books that helped introduce their kids to other cultures. Any volunteers? E-mail me at vmb@atravelerslibrary.com

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Tags: children's book, children's travel book, Costa Rica, LillyBadilly