Book Talk Tuesday - 101 Places to See Before You're 12

I love the "You might like this" list from Amazon sometimes. 

I do sometimes get some interesting books that way, or sometimes they are duds.

There were two books that I took from the library that I got this way.  One was a dud, one was great. 

This one was the dud.

I am not a big fan of telling me I have to take my kids to Greece or dive with the dolphins off the coast of Hawaii, or whatever.  We don't get to take big elaborate trips, we would rather sink our money into other things.  We do try to expose or children to many different things, but this book really was not up our alley. 

This one was however:

This book was more realistic for us.  Instead of specific places it was things.  I had my boys go through and see where they had been, here is an example of part of my oldest's list:

1. A migration path ( morlidia, Mexico/ Monarch butterfly's )
2. a working farm ( Atwood's Grandpa )
3. a superlative place ( world's longest highway - Trans Canada Highway, world's largest teepee - Medicine Hat's)
4. a waterfall ( lost creek camp ground, Montana )
5. an art museum ( the Esplanade, the Gault, the Glenbow )
6. a wind farm ( just past Magrath )
7. an aquarium ( in Vancouver )
8. the house where your parent(s) grew up (Mom's parents still live there)
9. a big cave ( ice cave in Jasper )
10. an insectarium ( in Victoria - Bug Zoo )
11. a marvel of engineering ( gas town steam clock, Vancouver )
12. a cemetery ( Medicine hat )
13. an old folks home ( grandma Hazel's house )
14. a sculpture park ( B.C, Kalowna - sand sculptures )
15. A Farmer's Market ( Farmer's Market in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge Farmers Market, Drumheller's Farmers Market )
16. A junk art creation ( at the Esplanade )
17. a general store ( home hardware )
18. a forest canopy ( Helaman's encampment )
19. a big dune ( sand dunes )
20. a haunted place ( Virginia city, Montana )
21. a ghost town ( Virginia city, Montana )
22. hot springs ( Canyon hot springs, B.C )
23. A living history museum ( heritage park, Calgary )
24. a place of worship - other than your own ( catholic church, Mexico )  
25. a very big thing ( world's largest teepee in Medicine hat )
26. a dinosaur site ( Drumheller )
27. an unusual museum ( science museum, Edmonton and Calgary )
28. a peace place ( Japanese gardens, lethbridge and B.C )
29. a radical rock formations ( writing on stone, hoodoo's in Drumheller )
30. an archaeological site ( head smashed in buffalo jump )
31. a working port ( Vancouver, B.C )
32. A cool place to sleep ( Fantasy land hotel )
33. an ethnic restaurant ( Vietnamese, Italian, east Indian, southern, Chinese, Japanese, Greek )
34. your parents work place ( my dad's work )
35. the middle of nowhere ( lost creek camp ground, Montana )  
36. a people watching place ( Disney world, Mexico, elkwater Canada day celebration)
37. Amazing science site ( dino. museum in drumheller)
38. Eccentric eatery ( Disney world rainforest cafe)  
39. a street market ( Mexico )
40. a cool place you discover all on your own ( the enchanted forest, revelstoke B.C - Columbia Ice fields )

There were over 60 places that in my children's limited experience, managed to be.  I had them also make a list of places they would like to go.  (from the ones they hadn't been) While the lists were different than each other, they were still ones we could possibly go without travelling the world.  Here is part of my second son's list:

1. an old growth forest (California Red Wood's)
2. A Marvel of Engineering (Golden Gate Bridge)
3. A Long Trail (West Coast Trail, BC)
4. A Wetland
5. An Ancient City (Greece or Rome)
6. Forest Canopy (Zipline in Revelstoke BC)
7. A Fort (Fort Walsh)
8. A Patisserie
9. A Place where they make cool stuff (Lego's, Crayons, or Ice Cream) 
10. A Subway (In Vancouver)
11. A Canyon (Grand Canyon) 
12. A Prison or Jail

My favorite part of his list is that he even detailed WHERE he wanted to see them!  :)  The most they had though was 19 on this wish list. 

I think the best part of the book was that it didn't put ideas into their heads that weren't already there.  They didn't think they HAD to see the Easter Island Heads, or the Parthenon, or the Vatican.  All of the ideas came from things they have heard about or read about. 

If you want your kids to feel good about where they have been...or seen, this is a great book.  It also gives you some great ideas on where you could go for vacation.

Cheers