Molly and the Magic Suitcase Week

Welcome to Molly and the Magic Suitcase Week!

Molly and the Magic Suitcase is one of my favorite book series devoted to teaching children about the world. They recently released Molly Goes to Rio de Janeiro, and in honor of their release we’re dedicating the week to them.

Starting today I will be reviewing several of their books, interviewing the creators, and giving away a book.

Why do I love the Molly and the Magic Suitcase series?

You’ll understand more as you read the reviews, but overall, it boils down to three things:

• A great understanding of how kids become interested in learning about other cultures. Sometimes they’re interested because they learned something in school, and sometimes it’s because of something that seems insignificant. Even though I try to infuse cultural moments into our family’s everyday life, I sometimes forget to pick up on those clues. And Molly helps me remember to do that.
• A variety of cultural information about the places visited. Kids are interested in everything. Everything is a learning experience. We all travel for our own reasons, but it’s good to remember that travel is more than just about the food, the history, visiting the sites, or our own personal interests. When Molly goes abroad, she gets an overview of a variety of things about the culture – from language to local arts, from history to geography, from food to sports. Molly approaches her destinations with an open mind, and this is what I want for my kids when they travel.
• The illustrations. I don’t know how to describe it accurately, though I’ve tried. The illustrations are beautiful. To steal a word I read used to explain the images once, spirit. The details the illustrator uses helped me feel the spirit of the place in an intimate and real way. Sometimes I just stop at an image to soak in those details.

So, let’s get to it.

Later today and every day this week I will publish a new post about Molly and the Magic Suitcase. I will also use Facebook, Twitter, and a little bit of Instagram to share more information about the series. Bookmark this page as I update it with links to posts.

And it goes without saying, but please share it with your friends who appreciate other cultures.

Posts I wrote

A book review of Molly Goes to Shanghai

A book review of Molly Goes to Sydney

A book review of Molly Goes to Rio de Janeiro

An interview with the author, Chris Oler

Oh, yeah, what about the book giveaway?

There will be more information later, but you’ll have until next week to enter!