15 Books to Inspire Kids to Travel

Engaging stories can bring a country or a city to life for children while introducing them to different cultures. Whether you want children to learn about a place where your family plans to travel, or just want your children to know more about the world, you can be sure reading about different places will help them become better travelers.

For prospective travelers, choose books not just set in a destination, but that also have a real sense of place. Classics like Johanna Spyri’s Heidi and Ludwig Bemelmans’s Madeline stories reveal landscapes, landmarks and local customs as they tell engaging stories. The following books engage young readers with stories that speak of their setting, its people and often its history:

Japan: I Really Want to See You, Grandma by Gomi Tarō

France: Paris by Phone by Pamela Druckerman

Italy: Big Anthony: His Story by Tomie dePaola (or Strega Nona series by dePaola)

Canada: Carson Crosses Canada by Linda Bailey

England and Scotland: The Highland Falcon Thief by M. G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman

Scotland: The Children of Castle Rock by Natasha Farrant

London: The Queen’s Hat by Steve Antony

Kenya: Warrior Boy by Virginia Clay

China: Red Butterfly by Deborah Noyes

Berlin, Germany: Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner

Scandinavia (historical): Riddle of the Runes by Janina Ramirez

South Africa: Journey to Jo’Burg by Beverley Naidoo

Jamaica: When Life Gives You Mangoes by Kereen Getten

India: The Time Traveller and the Tiger by Tania Unsworth

Rome (historical): Roman Mysteries series by Caroline Lawrence