Husband-and-wife team Ted and Betsy Lewin, both Caldecott Honor artists, invites readers to step inside their notebooks and sketchbooks and travel with them to far-reaching destinations.
They organize their entries into five regions, rather than chronologically, and begin in Africa. Betsy Lewin opens each section with a map of the region, integrating some high points of their encounters. The appealing, inviting design of the volume resembles a scrapbook, with photos of villagers in Kalahari and Botswana, a lifelike watercolor of the "Saffron Man" (who sells the spice for $15 per ounce!) and (a decade later) photos of artifacts such as a donkey saddlebag and a tent peg from the famous Tuaregs, or "blue men" of Morocco. Lifestyle differences play up the contrasts and humor, such as "going to the bathroom in the bush" in Botswana or in a hole in the ground in Kanha National Park in India ("if you face the wrong way you miss"). Betsy Lewin includes a pen-and-ink of her fall from a boat, which broke her foot in Thailand (a surgeon set it perfectly). Four-legged creatures tie together their adventures in Europe: two horses (two decades apart) in Ireland; a bullfight in Nîmes, France; and a reindeer in Norway. The wildlife of South America--including the giant tortoise of Galapagos and the red-and-green macaws of Peru--are a highlight. The Lewins then bring it home to the wonders to be found in the United States.
Whether a read-aloud for the whole family or a resource for travel, this inviting volume will provide hours of enjoyment. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness