Up, Up and Away: A Round-the-World Puzzle Adventure.

Anne Hutchings is a public-school teacher and librarian in Ajax,
Ontario.

Forget Where’s Waldo? Up, Up and Away challenges young sleuths to find not just one individual but six kids plus one of their teachers in each of the twelve destinations they visit. The premise behind this adventure is that the kids—Sam, Dean, Kate, Justin, Lino, and Yoko—along with their teachers—Mrs. Green and Mr. Smith—have won a geography competition which enables them to travel around the globe.

A double-page spread is devoted to each country on this around-the-world excursion. Each illustration in which the kids are hidden features something unique about the country/city. For example, the Tivoli Gardens are depicted in the section about Denmark. In Australia, the kids are shown visiting one of that country’s beautiful beaches. One or two interesting facts about each location are found in the sidebar which accompanies each illustration. Readers are further challenged to locate the flag of the featured country also hidden in the illustration.

A small map of the world in the introduction pinpoints the countries visited. Two pages at the end of the book provide additional details about each destination.

Up, Up and Away, in addition to the obvious tie-in to geography, will provide junior grade children with hours of fun poring over the pictures, trying to locate each of the travellers. For less patient individuals, solutions are found at the end of the book. Families heading out on a road trip might want to consider purchasing this book to include in their travel packs. Highly recommended.