The Children’s Book Review | July 19, 2014
The Lately Lily books and activity sets, bought together or separately, are beautifully designed items that not only tell an interesting story about travel and adventure, but also encourage children to be storytellers and chroniclers themselves. Together or separately, the Lately Lily travel-centered books, cards, and activities—written and artfully designed by Micah Player—are a great way to look forward to a trip, to enjoy it along the way, and to reflect on it once everyone is back home.
By Micah Player
Age Range: 3-5 years
Hardcover: 32 Pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 25, 2014)
What to expect: Travel, Adventure, Great Illustrations
The Adventures of a Traveling Girl tells the story of Lily, who travels constantly with her parents and stuffed animal Zeborah. We see Lily at airports, in trains, and hopping in and out of cabs; riding camels, floating in an air balloon, taking photographs, going to museums, and trying exotic food. The book doesn’t tell the story of a single trip, but of travel itself: the adventure of going to new places, making new friends, and learning many new things.
One of the unique features of the book is that it encourages children to be like Lily and chronicle their own trips, through taking photographs, drawing pictures, writing letters, and keeping a journal and scrapbook of their adventures. This is a great feature that fashions children into curators and creators of their own travel impressions and memories.
By Micah Player
Age Range: 6 and up
Games, Activities, Stickers: 48 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 25, 2014)
What to expect: Great for keeping kids entertained on airplanes
The Sunny Yellow Suitcase encourages the process of fashioning children into curators and creators by providing colorful luggage tags for children to put on their own luggage, stickers, a set of two-dozen activity cards, and a charming Lately Lily Passport that serves as a journal and scrapbook. The Activity Cards encourage exploration, each one focused on some particular aspect of traveling. One card suggests taking pictures and turning them into a collage, another asks children to chronicle the new foods they’ve tried, while another suggests they design a t-shirt inspired by their trip. The Travel Passport localizes all this reflection and takes it to the next level with a series of writing, drawing, and photography prompts aimed at getting children to chronicle their trip in fun, imaginative, and thoughtful ways.
By Micah Player
Age Range: 3 and up
Cards: 26 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 25, 2014)
What to expect: Fun ABC flashcards, where the word for each letter relates to travel
Finally, the Travel Flash Cards are a great way to build travel-specific vocabulary, and to fill downtime on planes and trains with a fun activity. As it says on the back of the box, the cards are so beautifully illustrated they can even be used to decorate a child’s room after the trip.
For more gorgeous books on the theme of travel or more books by Micah Player, follow along with our Micah Player Books tag and our Kids Travel Books category.