7 Books You Can Read to Your Children When You Travel

How often do you travel in a year? For families with kids who are just about to start school or college, travel is an experience that should be well planned and implemented.

How often do you travel in a year? For families with kids who are just about to start school or college, travel is an experience that should be well planned and implemented. Not only is travel an eye opener, it can also teach your kids how to plan, open their minds to the different ways of life and make them explore cultures and cuisines which are otherwise difficult to see in one’s own city.

Apart from the fact that travel is an exhilarating experience for the entire family, there are ways to make it much more enriching and make the best out of those few days when you break away from the monotonous routine most of us are used to. Reading has always been something that elevates the time you spend at any destination and reading to your child when you travel will prove to be extremely rewarding. Here are a few books that you can consider carrying along on your next trip.

• THE HARRY POTTER SERIES

When it comes down to reading fiction, the Harry Potter series is a great start to your child’s reading graph. The characters are 6- 8 when they start out and as the books progress, the children grow up together. The books propagate friendship, truth, honesty and such other feelings or values while making the plot interesting and exciting enough to keep your children hooked throughout. Try reading the first book to your child as you travel, let them ask questions, explore the narrative and enjoy the imaginative scope of the books.

 MARLEY AND ME

If your children have always wanted a dog, this is the perfect book for them! And if not, be sure to be a recipient to tantrums asking for a dog or a pet after reading this book. The book talks about a family and their life with their pet dog ‘Marley’ describing his frivolous tactics, exciting demeanour and the adventures that they faced with him in the house and outside. Not only will your children be whisked away into this world, they will also understand empathy, sensitivity and caring. The book exposes us to pain and loss.

• CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

Truly the best book to read to your child in his school years, this masterpiece by Roald Dahl is full of imagination. The story telling is fun and soothing, making the characters identifiable and also equally strange. Read the book to your child as you sit in the train or take the flight to the destination of choice and start the trip on an incredible note.

• THE TRAVEL BOOK: A JOURNEY THROUGH EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD

Reading to your child should not only be an activity that you indulge in at home or occasionally. Reading should be a part of the day and switching the kind of material and content that your child gets exposed to right from an early age is the parents’ responsibility. While fiction and children’s stories are a great start to the process, exposing your child to nonfiction and journals should also be on the cards. The travel book is collection of 200 countries and will open your child’s mind to the possibilities of lives beyond the usual.

• THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ

If we claim that ‘On the Road’ is the perfect road trip book for adults, this can double up as the perfect book for children to read when on a trip. The narrative is escapist and full of imagination that will whisk your children away into a world which is not their own. Read the book as you start the journey and spend time reading with the children as you wake up in the resort every morning. Enjoy the view and let the children’s imagination soar.

• ON A SHOESTRING TO COORG

Another perfect book to read out tour children, especially if you are travelling to South India, this is a book that first tested the possibility of a 5-year-old daughter making a beautiful travel companion as opposed to being a responsibility. Mother and daughter meander their way from Bombay to South India with almost no money and no concrete plans. Interested everything they see, truly enchanted by people, they travel on packed buses and stay in fisherman’s huts. Instead of pressing ever onwards, like so many travellers, they double back to the place they liked most, the hill province of Coorg and settle down to live there for two months. The book teaches us to go back to our roots and question the need for material belongings and the greed for it. This book could have an enchanting effect on your child if you are travelling to Coorg, while in Coorg you could have a memorable stay with your family at Club Mahindra Madikeri resort in Coorg. A Club Mahindra membership offers you numerous Club Mahindra resorts to choose from when you are planning a family vacation.

• MY FIRST RAILWAY JOURNEY

If your children are lovers of visual representations and images along with text, this is a book that only show cases the story of a child on a train. This non-verbal picture book begins with a boy sitting by the train window, ready to set off on an adventure. A coolie slides someone’s luggage below the seat, the ticket conductor comes to check everyone’s tickets, and nothing quite tops the excitement of going into a tunnel, when everything becomes pitch dark.