Teddy's Travel Lessons
Educational Book Highlights America's National Parks
This summer vacation, study America's National Parks with Trefoni Michael Rizzi's award winning book, Teddy's Travels. With Tedrick De Bear, the world is a classroom!
As entertaining as it is educational, TdB Press's 2006 release, Teddy's Travels: America's National Parks inspires kids to explore America through the National Park System.
Visiting America's National Parks
The colorful layout of the book is inviting. Playful pictures of "author" Tedrick De Bear on his travel adventures with "best friend" Tony (author Trefoni Michael Rizzi) fuse with playful narrative, maps, and other interactive elements to make this title a treat for travelers or youngsters who just want to learn more about America's National Parks.
Tedrick, who is as small, cute and fuzzy as his name suggests, is pictured in National Park locations from the Statue of Liberty National Monument in New York City to Haleakala National Park in Hawaii. For each of dozens of highlighted locations, Teddy provides must-see highlights such as the face of stone on the Circle Trail at Pipestone National Monument and the Pinery (Tedrick tells his readers, "It was a real STAGECOACH STATION!") at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Tedrick also suggests when hikes or tours are essential while visiting.
Maps and Travel Journals
For each of nine geographic regions included in the book there are simple road maps and lists of parks by state. Tedrick encourages travelers to use the book to record the date of their first visit to each park and provides space for pictures, postcards, park stamps and even journaling. Additionally, each regionally organized chapter ends with "Tedrick's Teasers," question sets that challenge sojourners to seek specific points of interest at highlighted parks.
This interactive spiral bound book is perfect for little travelers who will not easily mar its sturdy pages. Many young readers will also appreciate the snippets of factual information that fall on every page. Children who don't have the skills or patience for lengthier passages will still find a lot of interesting trivia about the parks. In fact, the book is so much fun that kids may not even realize that how educational it is.
Perhaps the only disappointment in this book is that Teddy and Tony didn't travel to even more parks before the publication of this first book. For instance, New England travelers will find next-to-nothing about the natural beauty of New England's breathtaking National Parks. Luckily for readers, promotional information suggests that this engaging book is the first of a series "designed to engage and educate children about the National Park System."
Overall, Tedrick de Bear and Trefoni Michael Rizzi's educational book is well worth the $19.95 price tag. The book is available nationwide from major wholesalers, at National Park Bookstores, and at the TdB website.
