Book Adventures Tours
People who love both books and travel need to know about Dr. Mary Lou White and her Book Adventures Tours. Dr. White, a Professor Emeritus of Wright State University, has been conducting overseas tours related to various aspects of literature for the past 25 years. Her tours include both the "must-see" sights, such as the Coliseum in Rome and the Mozart Museum in Salzburg, and specific sites of literary interest, such as a walk up Watership Down near Bristol to see Bigwig's tree and a stroll through Pinocchio Park in Collodi. Visits with authors and illustrators in publishing houses and individual homes highlight each tour. Personalized tours of libraries, such as the International Youth Library in Munich contribute to rich professional experiences.
Traveling with a relatively small group of literature lovers enables participants to become well acquainted with like-minded readers and professionals. Once people go on a Book Adventures tour they tend to repeat, so part of the joy of each trip is renewing acquaintances with former travelers as well as meeting new friends with similar interests.
Dr. White's children's literature tour for 2001, entitled In Heidi's Paths, offers two weeks (July 23 to August 2) of literary adventures in Switzerland. The first stop will be in Hirzel, birthplace of Johanna Spyri, for the commemoration of the anniversary of this author's death one hundred years ago. Visits to the village museum, the Goatherd's Hut and the home of the Alm Uncle will be featured. The group will continue to Zurich where they will see exhibitions about Spyri and Heidi followed by an overview of Swiss children's books by the curator of the Swiss Institute of Children's Books. Swiss National Day will be celebrated on August 1st with the William Tell Festival Play.
The group will visit the publishing houses of Bohem Press in Zurich and a small press, Rex Verlag, in Lucerne. There they will meet author, Helga Hornung, who will discuss her books, particularly, Der Kleine Lalu [The Little Lalu] which has received international awards and recognition. They will also meet with author-illustrator Vera Eggerman, cartoonist Ted Sieger, and author Anita Siegfried. Other author presentations will be added as the date for the journey nears.
The natural landscape of Switzerland will play an important role in the group's travels. An excursion up the Jungfraujoch to the highest railway station in Europe will take participants to the beautiful site of the Eispalast (Ice Palace). Other adventures include walks in alpine meadows, shopping in elegant resorts, traveling to Zurich via ship, and walking tours in Interlaken, Lucerne and Zurich.
Earlier in the summer (June 21 to July 2), Dr. White will be taking a group to England for the Jane Austen Beside the Sea tour. This tour, sponsored by the Jane Austen Society of North America, will visit homes where Austen's family lived, museums, churches and other sites related to Austen's books. Participants will have visits with scholars and descendents of Austen and will visit private sites not open to the public.
The Austen tour will be followed by a Bloomsury tour (July 6 to 15) which will focus on the group of friends in Southern England who influenced modern thinking early 20th century with their art and writing of fiction, biography, politics and economics. Central figures are Virginia Woolf, E. M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes and Lytton Strachey. Sites will include London's British Library and Tate Gallery, Cambridge University, Charleston Farmhouse, Monk's House, Knole and Sissinghurst Castle.
In the summer of 2002, Dr. White's children's literature tour of Greece will feature contemporary authors and illustrators, as well as the classic Greek tales. Other offerings will include Literary Gardens of Cornwall and the West of England.
Information about these tours may be found on www.bookadventures.com or by contacting Dr. Mary Lou White, Book Adventures, 512 W. Venice Avenue #102, Venice, Florida 34285. Telephone: 941-480-0074.
Dr. Phyllis K. Kennemer
added 1/25/01
To stay up to date on new books on this topic, consider subscribing to The Children's Literature Comprehensive Database. For your free trial, click here.
If you're interested in reviewing children's and young adult books, then send a resume and writing sample to marilyn@childrenslit.com.