Goin’ to Boston

Photo by Larry Stritof

As I mentioned a few months ago, my family is going to Boston for vacation later this summer. It will be the first time my wife and boys have been, and my first trip there since I was 11 years old, and so I’ve been on the lookout for books to prep us on our visit.

Complementing the titles mentioned (and commented upon) in my original post, here’s what we’ve currently got on our vacation-themed shelf. (Well, right now, these titles are actually piled up on the floor next to my desk, but I hope to have them back on the shelf before the kids are awake. Or perhaps I’ll treat the boys to a conspicuous show of putting books back on the shelf, but that’s really a topic for another post…)

• Goin’ to Boston: An Exuberant Journey in Song, by H. Ellen Margolin and illustrated by Emily Bolam
• The Freedom Trail: An Artist’s View, by Leonard Weber
• What’s the Big Idea? Four Centuries of Innovation in Boston, by Stephen Krensky
• Subway, by Anastasia Suen and illustrated by Karen Katz. It’s not Boston-specific, but we will be taking a lot of rides on the T.
• As I Was Crossing Boston Common, by Norma Farber and illustrated by Arnold Lobel
• Dangerous Crossing: The Revolutionary Voyage of John Quincy Adams, by Stephen Krensky and illustrated by Greg Harlin
• The Boston Coffee Party, by Doreen Rappaport and illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully
• George vs. George: The American Revolution as seen from Both Sides, by Rosalyn Schanzer
• You Wouldn’t Want to Be at the Boston Tea Party: Wharf Water Tea You’d Rather Not Drink, by Peter Cook and illustrated by David Antram
• Sleds on Boston Common: A Story from the American Revolution, by Louise Borden and illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
• Old Ironsides: Americans Build a Fighting Ship, by David Weitzman
• The American Story, by Jennifer Armstrong and illustrated by Roger Roth. Especially for “1919 – The Great Molasses Flood,” but also for “1820 – The Whale’s Fury” — which leads us to…

Whales. We’ll be up bright and early (or early and bleary) one Sunday for a whale-watching cruise, which explains why we’ve got so many whale-related titles around the house these days:

• Whaling Days, by Carol Carrick and illustrated by David Frampton
• Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick
• Peggony-Po: A Whale of a Tale, by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney
• and, finally, Whale Port, by Mark Foster and illustrated by Gerald Foster

Where are you bound this summer (whether by flight or by foot), and are you reading anything to get ready?