Holiday Booking

When planning our 11-day family trip to Bali I was determined to pack light. Everyone had one pair of shoes, a set of bathers, a couple of pairs of shorts and T-shirts, the girls each had one dress. It was the baby the required the most luggage space with nappies, food, wipes, etc. I did not want to spend my ‘holiday’ (I use that term loosely) keeping track of a bunch of stuff that only got used once.  Also with only 2 adults to carry things (one of whom was usually carrying a baby) we really had to minimise.

So when I thought about what books to take I was really conflicted. Books are a big part of our life but they are heavy, they take up space and they might only get used a few times. I realised I would have to be really selective when choosing what to take.

My first thought was: paperback only. Much lighter. So I looked through our bookshelves to see what paperbacks we had. Next I needed to choose books that would please as many age groups as possible. We took some classics:  ‘The Cat in the Hat‘, ‘Wombat Stew‘ and ‘Possum Magic‘, which worked out fantastically well as a gift to our babysitter for her son.  We also took colouring books and a word search book, which came in really handy.

But then we have one independent reader who can sail through a short kids paperback in a few hours, so we’d need something just for him.

A friend recommended the ‘Billy is a Dragon‘ series which were happily in paperback, so two of them went in the luggage. They were a real hit with our Mr 7. However after he finished both of those 36 hours into our trip I was super glad I had broken all my rules and packed a heavy, hard cover book that really got us through the holiday.

And that book was …..(drum roll): ‘Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls‘. I had previously given this book as a gift while waiting for our reservation at the library to become available. That happened the day we were leaving for Bali, and I couldn’t leave it at home after waiting for so many weeks, and I was so glad we packed it. What a terrific book for boys and girls.

Each page is a short bio of females figures from ancient and modern history. They are written in such a way that primary school aged children can easily understand the ‘story’ of each woman’s life: the challenges they faced, the goals they achieved, the characteristics they demonstrated.  Each bio is accompanied by an exquisite portrait of the subject, which helps to keep a non-reader’s attention.

This book is a must for all young children. My kids loved it!