Children's Books

Amy's Travels
By Kathryn Starke

Discover the seven continents as Amy travels around the world.  This social studies trade book teaches the culture, geography, and diversity of our world through the eyes of a child.  This children's book uses descriptive text and child friendly illustrations to engage children in a "reading to learn" experience.

What Others are Saying About Amy's Travels

Amy's Travels is a delightful adventure of a little girl who moves with her family every few years to a different continent.  This appealing journey enables children to obtain a broad perspective of the world as seen through the eyes of Amy, the central character.  By focusing on each of the seven continents, the reader is able to conceptualize both their vast differences and stark similarities.  Beautifully written and magnificently illustrated, Amy's Travels is the perfect selection for teachers when developing children’s background experiences for Social Studies at any grade level.
- Dr. Katherine Wisendanger, Professor, Literacy and Culture Program, Longwood University

Amy's Travels is a wonderful story about a young girl who has visited each of the continents.  The story is based on the life of author Kathryn Starke’s’ friend Amy.  Not only does this book provide a window into each of the continents, it also provides lesson plans and activities for grades K-5.  This book provides an opportunity for students who otherwise would never have the chance to visit any other continent.
- Alison Perry, Elementary School Teacher, Richmond, Virginia

Amy's Travels is a stimulating and interesting text, which teaches children varied world perspectives in a meaningful and relevant way.  The reader is taken in turn for a fleeting visit to each continent, starting with Antarctica and ending with Australia.
- Lois Henderson, BookPleasures.com

I realy enjoyed seeing my preschool daughter enjoy Amy's Travels.  It was great to see her thoughts of sharing the book with others, as long as they didn't take her copy becasue she isn't willing to part with it.  I would highly suggest this book to parents and elementary school teachers.  The book woul be wonderful for use in the classroom as well as a fun learning tool at home.
- Tiffany Schlarman, Book Reviewer

Amy's Travels is an excellent complement to elementary geography.  There are opportunities fro map reading, learning the continents,and countries too.  Curriculum ideas in the back expand the learning.
- The Reading Tub

Given that my son just finished learning about the seven continents at school, I was happy to share the book Amy's Travels with him.  This children’s book by Kathryn Starke is a cool blend of geography and culture that promotes all the things we love to encourage as multilingual families.
- SpanglishBaby

Amy shares her knowledge of the seven continents of the world through young and imaginative eyes.  The book comes with lesson plans thta are very useful for teachers of grades kindergarten through fifth.
- Patrice Russo Belotte, Book Reviewer

Written by second grade teacher Kathryn Starke, Amy's Travels is a softcover children’s picturebook that invites young readers to accompany Amy along her trip to all seven of Earth’s continents.  From the rainforest jungles of Africa to the mountains of South America and the cultured cities of Europe, Amy's Travels offers a child’s eye view of the delights of encountering new people, places, and cultures.  Simple color drawings on every other page add a unique touch of charm to this storybook, especially recommended for sharing with children before a family trip.
- The Midwest Book Review

Amy's Travels meets the social content compliance guidelines of the California Education Code cited in the State Board of Education guidelines in Standards for Evaluating Instructional Materials for Social Content.  These guidelines ensure the materials portray democratic values, cultural pluralism, and the diversity of our population by emphasizing people in a variety of positive roles.
- California Department of Education

This children’s book by John B. Cary second grade teacher Kathryn Starke, is a creative way to tackle some of the requirements of the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs).  With social studies lessons for kindergarten through fifth grade teachers following the story, Starke takes her young readers from Antarctica to Australia while secretly folding in such SOL requirements as “relative locations” and “varied world perspectives.”  The simply told narrative is based on the real-life travels of Starke’s former college suitemate Amy Kramer, whose father worked for the foreign services.  The illustrations by Jennifer Carter, Laura Starke, and first-grade John B. Cary teacher Charity Wells are childlike and endearing.  Amy's Travels will be included in the Henrico County Library’s fall program.
- Style Weekly, Richmond, Virginia