Destination: Italy (14th Century)

Book: Waterfall, the River of Time triology by by Lisa T. Bergren (Young Adult)

By Jennifer Close

Imagine finding a portal that takes you back to 14th century Italy where you are immediately immersed in a battle between gallant knights and their fierce enemies. This is exactly what happened to modern day teenager, Gabriella, when she and her sister were exploring where they weren’t supposed to be in Waterfall , the first book of the River of Time trilogy by Lisa T. Bergren

Awhile back, I was at home sick and trying to find something new to put on my eReader when I saw the first book of the series was on special and free for download. After teaching high school for years, I love Young Adult fiction so of course I downloaded it. I was hooked after the first chapter and finished the book in less than a day.

Gabriella realizes that she did in fact travel back in time and she also realizes that she lost her sister in the process. She embarks on a journey to locate her sister but at the same time discovers not only a little bit more of herself but she also finds love. What I liked most about Gabriella was that she is a strong female character. She has all the typical characteristics of a teenage girl swooning over a boy (a mighty fine looking one at that!) but at the same time she is confident, strong-willed, and resourceful when it comes to finding her way around an Italy of the past. She can appreciate a beautiful gown one minute and can wield a sword the next. Every once in awhile, I felt like it was a little far-fetched that Gabi, for the most part, fit in to the 14th century so quickly and easily but it is a book about time travel after all!

Italy has never really been high on the list of countries that I want to visit even though some of my favorite books are set there. A few years ago, we went to Germany and Austria to see as many Christmas Markets as we could during a two week period…ok, as many Christmas Markets as I could see! We were based in Garmisch, Germany just a few hours north of Italy so we had planned a quick day trip over the Italian border but had to cancel it due to weather. It didn’t really bother me too much. But after reading about Gabi’s adventures, I think I am ready to plan a trip to Italy now and learn more about the history of the country.

Siena Italy Fountain of Gaia with fence

“But the Fonte Gaia of Siena, a simple rectangle, ornately carved of marble, did not demand undue attention. It allowed the public square itself to sing, like a box seat in the best part of a stadium,” says Gabi. After reading this description of the Gaia Fountain, I hopped online to see pictures of it. What an interesting fountain it is! The Gaia Fountain, or Fountain of Joy, is a rectangular shaped basin that has three sides adorned with reliefs and is surrounded by an iron fence. I can only imagine what Gaia Fountain looked like to Gabi as she looked at it shortly after its construction without that fence surrounding it.

Siena Italy Fountain of Gaia

This series does fall under the Christian fiction category as Gabi struggles with her faith and her responsibilities to her family. It is subtle so if you are not used to reading Christian fiction it isn’t in your face. As a mother and former teacher who would share this book with teenagers, I liked that it was a good clean romance with nothing too racy.  This book may also get your teenager thinking about the possibility of travel to Italy.

For me, the worst part about this book was when it ended. It was a fun young adult read that left me wanting more and I enjoyed the second two books, Cascade and Torrent, just as much as the first. I can only hope that Ms. Bergren decides to continue Gabi’s story.

Disclaimers:  It is the policy of A Traveler’s Library to disclose affiliate links. All links to the book titles in this post are links through A Traveler’s Library affiliation with Amazon. If you buy something through those links, you will be helping A Traveler’s Library pay the billls. THANKS!  All photos used here are from Flickr with a Creative Commons license. Please click on the photos to learn more. 

Jennifer and family

Jennifer Close is a regular conributor to A Traveler’s Library, writing once a month about Family Travel.  You can find her on other days at Two Kids and a Map where she talks about her own family’s travels.

Now it is the Reader’s turn: If you have teens in the family–do you think that books about foreign places might persuade them to travel? When you were younger what books influenced your wanderlust?

And perhaps most important of all, what can we say to persuade Jennifer that she MUST go to Italy??

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: California (Candyland by book)

Book: See’s Famous Old Time Candies: A Sweet Story (2005) by Margaret Moos Pick

Review and Recipe by Brette Sember

One of my family’s favorite vacation activities is to take tours of fun food production facilities. We’ve visited the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA, the Byrd Cookie Company in Savannah and the Charleston Tea Plantation (home to American Classic Tea), among many others. It’s always simply fascinating to see where and how your favorite treats are made (and enjoy some samples while there!).

One food factory tour I would love to take is of See’s Candies. We sampled See’s Candies while in California and they now top my list of favorites. See’s doesn’t offer tours to their Los Angeles or San Francisco factories or to any of their other facilities, sadly. The next best thing is See’s Famous Old Time Candies: A Sweet Story by Margaret Moos Pick. This little book is just as delicious as a box of candies and is a journey not only to See’s locations, but through time as well.

Inside the cover you are immediately greeted with a montage of See’s treats, candy for your eyes. See’s is now controlled by Berkshire Hathaway and Warren Buffet wrote the preface. Diving into the book is like a trip to vintage California, something I find incredibly kitschy and fun, like an old postcard or the Hollywood sign.

I learned so much about See’s that I really do feel as if I took a tour and spent some time in one of their shops, just chatting with employees. There really was a Mary See and See’s still uses her candy recipes. They aren’t kidding when they call them old-fashioned candies. The family photos are fantastic and offer a glimpse into what California used to be like, with flowering trees and quaint homes in the background.

See’s began in L. A. in the Roaring 20’s when Californians had extra income and a feeling of celebration. What better time to start selling delicious candies? One of my favorite photos in the book is of the delivery motorcycle that was used to personally deliver orders during this time period. A tiny little country cottage with white eyelet curtains was built on the back of a motorcycle with the See’s name prominently displayed.

See’s was off to a great start, but then the crash came. The fledging company held on with smart moves when it came to price (reducing it) and quality (never sacrificing it). By the 1940’s See’s quaint country cottage style shops had spread all the way to San Jose and Sacramento. The photos of these shops are simply stunning. With striped awnings, black and white floors, adorable cases, white paneled walls and salesgirls in white nurse-like uniforms with giant black bow ties, See’s had created a look all its own. See’s has now become a company with stores all over the world.

The book goes behind the scenes with photos of the candy-making process in its L. A. facilities. You can walk through the process and see a wide variety of machines and workers. There’s even a “nut room” where nuts are assessed for quality before being shelled for candy making. One of my favorite tidbits from the book is that the famous I Love Lucy candy factory episode was actually filmed in See’s factory in L. A. !

The pages also include fun stories about shop openings (involving a Chinese Lion Dance and firecrackers in Kowloon and a famous jazz band in San Francisco) as well as vignettes about employees and family members. I would be remiss if I didn’t warn you that the book contains lots and lots of photos of amazing candies (honestly, I never even knew what a bonbon was and now I am going to have to order some from See’s).

See’s doesn’t share any of their recipes (a crime!) so to sate your appetite for sweets, I’m share my family recipe for fudge:

Gai’s Fudge

1 cup milk
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
Dash of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Warm the milk over low heat and add the chocolate, stirring until it is melted and smooth. Stir in sugar, corn syrup and salt. Cook over low to medium heat until it reaches 236 degrees (soft ball stage). Remove from the heat and stir in butter. Cool, stirring until it is lukewarm. Stir in the vanilla and the nuts. Pour into an 8×8 buttered pan and cool completely, then cut into squares.

Do you have a favorite food tour from your travels?

Brette Sember is a regular contributor to A Traveler’s Library, bringing us her expertise on traveling with taste–food that inspires travel.  Brette is a super busy author, and you should check out her latest food books, The Parchment Paper Cookbook (I have been cooking from it since it arrived just before Christmas), The Muffin Tin Cookbook and The Organized Kitchen (Yep! I need that!).

Disclaimer: The links to Amazon in this post are there for your convenience, but they also are affiliate links. Anything you buy when using the links in this post, although it costs you no more, earns a few cents for Brette Sember. She thanks you.

And let me hasten to inform you that although the pictures above do portray See’s chocolates, they do not come from the book being reviewed. Instead we got the pictures from Flickr and use them under the Creative Commons License. You can click on any picture to learn more. The I Love Lucy video is one of several copies on YouTube.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination:  Anchorage, Barrow, and Fort Richardson, Alaska

Movie: Big Miracle (NEW 2012), Directed by Ken Kwapis

Review by Jane Boursaw

Reel Rating*: 4 out of 5 Reels

There’s something really compelling about whales. Is it their size and power? The fact that they swim in the ocean underneath our tiny boats? Or the fact that even though they could wipe out a small town with one swipe of a flipper, maybe they’re not so different from us after all.

Whatever the reason, any time a whale pops up in a movie, I’m so there. In Big Miracle, we get not one, but three whales, along with the incredibly adorable Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski. It’s almost too much cuteness for one movie, but there you have it.

John Krasinki and Drew Barrymore

Based on the book by Thomas Rose, Big Miracle tells the real-life story that happened back in 1988. John Krasinski plays Adam Carlson, a news reporter covering stories in the tiny town of Barrow, Alaska. When he inadvertently discovers a family of three gray whales trapped in the icy waters off shore, he realizes this could be the big story that gets him out of the sticks and into a cushy job in the Lower 48.

Adam’s story gets picked up by the national press, attracting the attention of everyone from Tom Brokaw to a White House staffer in Pres. Reagan’s administration to ex-girlfriend Rachel Kramer, a Greenpeace activist who immediately flies to Barrow to help organize efforts to get the whales back to open sea.

Rescuing the whales in Big Miracle

It also attracts the attention of oil baron J.W. McGraw (Ted Danson), who sees the situation as a way to bring environmentalists onboard with his Arctic oil-drilling efforts, and Jill Jerard (Kristen Bell), an ambitious Los Angeles reporter looking for a scoop.

There’s no doubt this movie has a lot going on; stories focused on saving the whales; oil-drilling in the Arctic; a culture clash with the whale-harvesting Inuit tribes; push-pull between a National Guard officer (Dermot Mulroney) and Pres. Reagan; and the fact that the U.S. government asks the Soviet Union for help in freeing the whales. By the way, did Pres. Reagan actually call Mikhail Gorbachev “Gorby”? No idea, but I guess the scene where he calls him on the phone is played for laughs.

Somehow, though, it all works, probably because this story really happened back in 1988, and we see evidence of that when archival footage plays as the end credits roll. Plus, if you were around in the 1980s, you’ll get a kick out of the shout-outs to Walkmans, Def Leppard, big hair and shoulder pads. It was also filmed on location in Anchorage, Barrow, and Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Most of all, though, Big Miracle is an entertaining, educational family movie that both kids and adults will like – especially if you have a thing for whales and movies shot in snowy locations.

*JANE’S REEL RATING SYSTEM:

One Reel – Even the Force can’t save it.

Two Reels – Coulda been a contender

Three Reels – Something to talk about.

Four Reels – You want the truth? Great flick!

Five Reels – Wow! The stuff dreams are made of.

Jane Boursaw is a family entertainment writer specializing in movies and TV. She contributes monthly articles about movies at Wednesday Matinee at A Traveler’s Library. Visit her at ReelLifeWithJane; follow her on Twitter; become a friend on Facebook; email jboursaw@charter.net.

Disclaimers: There is a link to Amazon in this post to the book the movie is based on. Reel Life With Jane is an affiliate, and therefore if you use that convenient link and buy anything at all while you are there, Reel Life will earn a few cents. Thanks for supporting our work! Photos are provided by Universal Pictures.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

ANNOUNCEMENT from VERA MARIE:  Kerry Dexter’s blog, Music Road is a finalist in the 2012 Bloggies. You can go to the Bloggies page and vote for Kerry as the BEST Music blog on the Internet. Voting closes in mid February, so do not delay.

Destination: Romance

Music: Lover’s Well by Matt and Shannon Heaton Produced by Eats Records

By Kerry Dexter

February is the month of Valentine’s Day, hearts, and flowers. As Shakespeare said, though, the course of true love never did run smooth. That’s a side of things Matt and Shannon Heaton decided to look at as they were choosing songs for their album Lovers’ Well

Matt and Shannon Heaton

It’s not that the two, who have been married for some time, don’t know about or believe in the hearts and flowers side of things, and indeed there are songs and tunes which honor that on the album. They thought, though, that a bit of depth and dimension  would  be added to the whole idea of love by mixing in music that talks of other aspects.

deep is the lovers’ well
higher than heaven
darker than hell
of courtship and marriage the poets do tell
sweet is the water from lovers’ well

(from the song Golden Glove)

So there is Lover’s Lament, with Matt taking lead vocal, Shannon on harmony and whistle, and percussion provided by the feet of dancer Nic Gareiss. The story, which has made its way from Ireland across to the Appalachians, is of a conversation between lovers who part and know not when, if ever, they will meet again.

The story told in  Golden Glove is of a different sort: a woman who is meant to marry one man falls for another, and makes a plan as to how to deal with this. The plans in Lily of the West take a more violent turn, with jealousy, murder, and leaving Ireland all involved. In The Bay of Biscay, Shannon sings a reflective lead vocal to tell the story of a woman who laments her lover’s long absence on a journey, and prepares to rejoice at his return — only to find he has returned as a ghost.

Turning to the happier side of things, there’s a set of  traditional jigs called  New Married Couple, with Matt on guitar and Shannon on flute. In a bit of an unexpected twist there’s a love song in Thai,  Lao Dueng Duen (also known as By the Light of the Full Moon), paired with the traditional jig The Stone Step. It’s a graceful pairing that Shannon chose to honor a time she had spent living in Thailand, and it really works well, with flute, guitar, and accordion backing Shannon’s voice on the song and flowing naturally into the rhythm of the jig. The other songs and tunes, both traditional and newly composed, are equally interesting. They total fourteen in all, fitting for Valentine’s Day

Matt and Shannon both sing lead, and add fine harmony to each other’s voices. Shannon plays whistles and flute, Matt plays guitar, bouzouki, and bodhran. They are  supported here by Keith Murphy on mandolin and piano, Nic Gareiss and Kieran Jordan on foot percussion,  and Dan Gurney on accordion.

The Heatons have several other recordings out, including one of my favorite albums for winter, Fine Winter’s Night.

Kerry Dexter

Kerry Dexter, from Music Road,  is a regular contributor  to A Traveler’s Library, writing about music-inspired travel. We particularly appreciate this post, which she sent from Scotland where she was attending the biggest Celtic Festival of them all.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Family Travel Friday

Visiting a dairy

Destination: Hit the U.S. Highways

Books: Kids Love Travel Guides by George Zavatsky and Michele Zavatsky

By Jennifer Close

When deciding which book to write about this month, I chose Kids Love I-75. Then I thought about sharing some information about Kids Love Florida. I was standing so close to my travel bookshelf that I couldn’t help but pull Kids Love I-95 off of the shelf. As I stared at these books, I decided to just share my love for the whole series by George and Michele Zavatsky.

My name is Jennifer and I am addicted to the Kids Love Travel books.

Jennifer Loves Kids Love Books

The Kids Love Travel Guides series has both Interstate Guides and State Guides. I particularly like the Interstate Guides because if you are going to spend some time driving I-75 and I-95, these are the books for you. Even in the age of smart phones and quick access to information, I love these Interstate Guides because they are filled with various stops at the many exits off of the Interstate. Both books include information about the different activities that can be found at each exit, hours, admission, whether they have food or restrooms, and more. The maps found throughout are my favorite parts of the book. Each map pictures the exits, what can be found at the exit like hotels, picnic areas and rest stops, and shows how far it is to the next exit.

Mayfield Dairy, Braselton, Georgia

Kids Love I-75 travels along the interstate from Michigan to Florida. We throw this book in the car anytime we will be on I-75. While traveling north on I-75 during one road trip, we were able to make family rest stops a little bit more exciting. When we were planning our trip, we referenced the book and realized that the Mayfield Dairy was right of the interstate. Instead of a quick bathroom stop where the kids ran around a grassy area, we were able to tour the Mayfield Dairy and treat ourselves to ice cream before the rest of the long trip.

The State Guides cover family friendly activities in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland and DC, Michigan, Missouri, The Carolinas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and DC, Wisconsin and Tennessee. Kids Love Floridais broken up into the different regions of the state and includes activities for children. Each activity lists a brief description of what you and your family can do, admission prices, hours of operation, website address, phone number, location and any other pertinent information you might need before your visit. The best part about these books is that each activity has been kid-tested and kid-approved by Mrs. Zavatsky and her family.

The state guides are great for not only families who live in these states but also for families who are going to be visiting. We are planning a trip to Maryland and Virginia this summer so I am trying to decide whether or not I should get both state books or stick with the state in which we are going to spend the most time. I will probably just end up getting both books!

The Kids Love Travel Guides cost about fifteen dollars each and several are available for purchase via download from the Kids Love Travel website.  ( You can get some guides on sale for $12.95 right now at the Kids Love Travel website)

Note from Jennifer: I received  review copies of Kids Love I-95 and Kids Love I-75.  As always, my opinions are my own with no outside influences. Photographs belong to Jennifer. Please respect her copyright.

The giveaway books (plural) today are perfect for a road trip:  Kids’ Love I-95 (new edition) and Drive I -95 by Stan Posner and Sandra Phillips-Posner (2007 edition). Today’s prize  books go to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+ before the deadline.  (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Monday, January 16, 3:00 a.m. MST. If you already subscribe by e-mail and want an extra entry as a subscriber, be sure to tell me that in the comments. See complete contest rules here.)

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Book: Dog Walks Man: A Six Legged Adventure

Where: The Meadowlands, New Jersey

Review by Edie Jarolim

Meadowlands New Jersey

Brooklyn was never known for its rural landscapes — though there are many of them, if you know where to look — but when I was growing up there I knew of a place that made my hometown seem pristine: The Meadowlands. The vast, swampy section of northwest New Jersey, a wasteland that you could see from Manhattan, had a reputation as a dumping ground for everything from toxic chemicals and refrigerators to — we believed — dead bodies, possibly even that of teamster Jimmy Hoffa.

Art reviewer and painter John Zeaman was not without similar stereotypes when he started walking his standard poodle, Pete, through the Meadowlands, or, as the title of his delightful memoir, Dog Walks Man, would have it, when Pete started walking him there. “An aura of danger and degeneracy clung to this piece of land like radioactive contamination,” he writes. It is “the Forbidden Forest,” the wild frontier of the manicured suburban New Jersey town to which he and his family have moved from Manhattan, though it is only a short car ride away.

Zeaman doesn’t discover any bodies when he starts exploring the Meadowlands with Pete, though he meditates on the frequency with which dog walkers tend to come across dead people in mystery novels. He does encounter garbage:

Here and there, erosion had worn down the cap of soil, exposing a collage of broken glass, flattened cans, and automobile tires. Tires, I eventually learned, were particularly buoyant because they trapped a doughnut of air when they were buried….Muted dolls stuck their heads out of the ground, eyes fixed heavenward, like El Greco saints.

Peaceful Meadowlands

But he also finds a strikingly wild and beautiful landscape, the complex ecosystem of wetlands that began to develop after the federal Clean Water Act and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission cleared up the pollution and closed the landfills in the 1970s. On their first outing to this terra incognita, he and Pete reach a rise where: “The view opened up. It could have been the Everglades or the Serengeti Plans.”

Who knew?

Zeaman is a wonderful guide through all the incarnations of the Meadowlands, providing snippets of history and geology from the Pleistocene Epoch to the 1960s, when “methane gas from the decomposing garbage sparked an underground fire in the peat that forms the Meadowlands’ floor… Driving through the stench on our way into Manhattan, my friends and I would howl in disgust.”

He looks at the landscape with philosophical wit:

I loved the phragmites reeds, which the state Department of Environmental Protection — and the rest of the world, it seemed — branded “invasive” and “opportunistic.” It struck me as hypocritical to malign a plant for its ability to adapt to an area where humans had been so egregiously invasive and opportunistic. I found them exotic and beautiful. In a strong wind, their hollow tubes clacked and clicked like wind chimes.

And he always has an artist’s perspective. Of the presence of trash, he writes:

It could even be looked on as an aesthetic question. Did beauty require purity? Did a small bit of ugliness cancel out something predominantly beautiful? In fact, the opposite case was often made in aesthetics — that beauty couldn’t exist without ugliness, that each defined the other.

This book is about far more than nature, though the dog-walking landscapes and the contemplations they give rise to play a central role. Zeaman also talks about the life of a writer, family life, suburban rituals, urban development, dog walking etiquette… and of course dogs. He’s a keen, unsentimental observer, able to laugh at himself as much as he pokes gentle fun at those around him.

For example, he describes the process of getting a new puppy — to rejuvenate Pete, who is getting older, he initially thinks. But it is not until he takes the new dog to the vet that he becomes aware that he is suffering from incipient empty nest syndrome as his daughter, Claire, is about to head off to college:

“Oh,’ the vet said, after I had lifted the floppy-legged puppy up onto the examination table, “Is this Claire’s replacement?

I think I may have blushed… Such insights into one’s unconscious motives were supposed to happen in a therapist’s office — not a veterinarian’s.

I could just keep on quoting. This is the type of book that has you marking passages and dog-earring pages, in spite of yourself; I tried not to but finally gave in. On every page, it gives you an idea to think about, a turn of phrase to admire. At the same time, the writing is never showoff-y; the prose illuminates its subjects without calling undue attention to itself. I’ve never seen Zeaman’s paintings, but if they’re anything like his writing I’d love to own one.

I even promise not to deface it.

Since the Pet Travel Book Club solicits discussion with readers, we hope that you will leave a comment below with your questions or opinions on Dog Walks Man. Edie Jarolim started the Pet Travel Book Club at her blog, Will My Dog Hate Me.  Edie will be discussing this book from the point of veiw of dog lovers over at Will My Dog Hate Me. She recently announced that she is winding down her work on the blog in favor of another project, which means that she will no longer be contributing Pet Travel columns to A Traveler’s Library. We’re going to miss her wonderful writing hereabouts, but look forward to her new projects.

Disclaimer: The links to the book are here to make it easier for you to get a copy.  Because it is an affiliate link, anything you buy will make a few cents (without costing you any extra) for Will My Dog Hate Me.Photographs are from Flickr with Creative Common License.  Please click on the picture to go to the Flickr collection of the photographer and learn more about each photo.

Even if you have not read Dog Walks Man, you’ll want to leave a comment (or tweet or google + or subscribe) so that you will be in the running to win today’s prize: the novel Good Graces by Lesley Kagan. It is not about a dog. It is set in Milwaukee rather than New Jersey. But it is darned good writing. The only reason I did not review it is that it would be a real stretch to say it lures you to travel. But the publisher sent it to me for review, knowing full well that I might not find it suitable for A Traveler’s Library, no matter how good the book is.  I think you’ll like it. Entries until 3:00 a.m. Friday Jan. 13–a lucky day for someone! See entire contest rules here. BE SURE TO SEE TOMORROW’s ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT TWO SPECIAL GRAND PRIZES–everyone who has an entry all month will be eligible.

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Wednesday Matinee

Destinations: France, England, Hawaii

Movies: The Descendants, Hugo, and War Horses

Reviews by Jane Boursaw

If there’s one thing we can count on around the holidays, it’s lots of great movies with fabulous locations. Let’s take a look at a few movies that had me going, “Wow, I have to include this in my Wednesday Matinee column at A Traveler’s Library!”

Hugo, the Movie

Hugo (Directed by Martin Scorsese; 126 min.; rated PG for mild thematic material, some action/peril and smoking; 5 out of 5 Reels). Only the master of film himself, Martin Scorsese, could make a family movie that involves the history of filmmaking. The reason it works as a family movie is because Scorsese slyly blends the history of filmmaking with a very human story about loss, hope and new beginnings.

And yes, the best movies start with a great story, so it helps that this one is based on Brian Selznick’s Caldecott-winning novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It tells the story of Hugo (Asa Butterfield), a 12-year-old orphan living within the walls of a Paris train station in the 1930s. He’s a good boy who’s trying to make the best of things after losing his dad (Jude Law) in a tragic fire and being sent to live with his drunken Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone) who keeps the clocks running at the station.

After his uncle abandons him, Hugo continues caring for the clocks and survives by swiping scones from vendor carts and dodging the stern Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) who stomps around with his leg brace and scary Doberman. But Hugo’s real passion is his beloved automaton, and he steals parts to fix the mechanical man his dad rescued from museum archives before his death.

Hugo is not only a beautiful story about a time in France’s post-war history when movies were melted down to make shoe heels, but the attention to 1930s-era detail is magnificent. There’s the fairy tale train station that bustles with activity. The complex inner workings of the massive clocks. Bakery carts filled with warm scones and buns. Wooden armoires with ornate carvings. Wise librarians who love books. And women in knitted berets selling flowers. The whole movie has a Dickensian feel to it.

Where You’ll Want to Travel:

• La Sorbonne, Paris 5, Paris, France
• Peterborough Train Station, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England
• Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, England

2. War Horse (Directed by Steven Spielberg; 146 min.; rated PG-13 for intense sequences of war violence; 4 out of 5 Reels). If you’ve seen enough Steven Spielberg movies, you can almost spot one at a glance. Lush production with authentic locations, attention to the smallest detail, gorgeous cinematography by longtime collaborator Janusz Kaminski, epic score by John Williams, well-cast actors and believable dialogue. War Horse has all that and more, set against the backdrop of World War I in rural England.

Based on a 1982 children’s novel by Michael Morpurgo and a 2007 stage adaptation, the story begins with English teenager Albert Narracott (Jeremy Irvine) watching the birth of a beautiful colt near his rural farm. Despite his best efforts to get the colt to warm up to him, it doesn’t happen, and the young horse is sent off to auction.

Cut to the auction site, and Albert’s father Ted (Peter Mullan) gets caught up in a bidding war against his curmudgeonly landlord Mr. Lyons (David Thewlis). Even though what Ted really needs is a sturdy plow horse, he ends up using the family’s rent money to outbid Lyons on the young Thoroughbred, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering wife Rose (Emily Watson).

But Albert is thrilled and agrees to train “Joey” to pull a farm plow so the family can plant turnips and pay the rent after the fall harvest. But when a rainstorm damages the crop, Ted is forced to do the unthinkable – go behind Albert’s back and sell Joey to a cavalry officer, Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston), who promises to look after the horse and, if possible, return him to Albert’s care after the war.

But Joey’s journey takes some unexpected turns, as we follow him through a misguided battle, on the run with two young German soldiers, in the care of a French farm girl, pulling heavy artillery up a hill for the German army, and smack in the middle of a battlefield in 1918, where a small moment in the midst of war gives hope that perhaps two opposing armies can work together.

Spielberg doesn’t gloss over the horrors of war. We see muddy battlefields strewn with dead humans and horses, a German gas attack that takes soldiers by surprise, and horses that are shot after they collapse from exhaustion. It’s hard to watch, and I don’t recommend it for kids younger than 14 or anyone who gets squeamish about war scenes and brutality against animals.

I love how the story follows Joey’s journey through several people, but circles back around to Albert, who enlists in the army as soon as he’s old enough, with the hope that he’ll find his beloved horse again. Both Joey and Albert are noble, brave and don’t shirk from their duties and responsibilities.

Where You’ll Want to Travel:

• Bourne Woods, Farnham, Surrey, England
• Castle Combe, Wiltshire, England
• Dartmoor, Devon, England
• Devon, England
• Luton Hoo Estate, Luton, Bedfordshire, England
• Meavy, Devon, England
• Wisley Airfield, Wisley, Surrey, England

3. The Descendants(Directed by Alexander Payne; 115 min.; rated R for language, including some sexual references; 5 out of 5 Reels). On screen or off, George Clooney always has that trademark suave air about him. He’s a debonair ringleader who organizes big casino heists (Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen),  a smooth talker who flies around the country firing people (Up in the Air), an escaped convict searching for hidden treasure (O Brother, Where Art Thou?). Never a hair out of place, especially in that last movie. Remember his penchant for Dapper Dan hair cream?

Scene from The Descendants

But The Descendants offers a different view of Mr. Clooney — a vulnerable father of two who’s piecing life back together while his wife lies comatose in a hospital bed following a boating accident. Clooney’s character, Matt King, has always been “the back-up parent,” the one who’s never around long enough to know what kind of ice cream his youngest daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) likes, or what his teenager Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) does while away at boarding school.

And it’s just the sort of role that will turn Clooney into a true movie star, not just another pretty face among the Brad Pitts and Matt Damons of Hollywood, not just the guy who always takes the big, high-profile roles. Or maybe The Descendants IS Clooney’s high-profile role in its regular-guy simplicity.

You can tell he’s sort of been heading that way in the past few years, reaching out for different types of roles. In The American, he played a cold-hearted killer (did anyone like him in that role? I didn’t). And in The Ides of March, Governor Mike Morris may have been eloquent on the surface, but he was swimming an ocean of dirty politics.

But I’m not sure how much of an argument I can make here, considering that Clooney’s movie career started out with gigs on The Facts of Life, Baby Talk and Roseanne. I guess he’s been a renaissance man from the start, willing to try anything to further his craft.

The Descendants is a superb movie. As a bonus, we get to see the lush Hawaiian islands of O’ahu and Kaua’i, where it was filmed (there’s a subplot about Clooney’s family selling off a huge piece of prime real estate). And if you’re worried about bawling your eyes out, I can tell you that I usually find something to cry about in every movie, but this one didn’t strike me that way. Part of it’s because we never really get to know Matt’s wife, played by Patricia Hastie, who spends most of the movie in a coma.

The Descendants also has enough humor to keep it from getting too maudlin. Shailene Woodley is wonderful as Matt’s older daughter. Finally, she gets a chance to shine beyond her one-note character on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Amara Miller is just as wonderful as Matt’s younger daughter. They seem like a real family you’d know from the neighborhood.

And special mention must be made of Nick Krause, who plays Alexandra’s friend Sid. He turned what could have been a clichéd teenage-slacker role into something much more meaningful. There are no stereotypes in The Descendants. Everyone seems like a real person, doing the best they can with the circumstances they’re given.

Where You’ll Want to Travel:

• Honolulu, O’ahu, Hawaii
• Kaua’i, Hawaii

Jane Boursaw is a family entertainment writer specializing in movies and TV. Visit her at ReelLifeWithJane or email jboursaw@charter.net.

Today’s prize to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+ is a copy of Casablanca, 85th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition. Tons of bonus features, including Exclusive Passport Holder and Luggage Tag; 48-Page Photo Book; 10 One-Sheet Reproduction Cards; and Archival Correspondence.  Is that an incredible prize, or what?? (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Thursday, January 12, 3:00 a.m. MST. If you already subscribe by e-mail and want an extra entry as a subscriber, be sure to tell me that in the comments. See complete rules here.) 

Thank you Jane for introducing these three movies and for offering the DVD set of Casablanca for one VERY lucky reader of A Traveler’s Library.

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Culture Travel Tuesday

by Dr. Jessie Voigts

Destination: France

Books: Several about food–read on.

Dessert Plate at Mariage Freres tea room, Paris

France. What’s the first thing you think of? If you’re anything like me, it’s all about the food. I dream of luscious cheeses, mouthwatering chocolates, special meals, and of course ANYTHING I can get at a boulangerie. Blame it on Molly Wizenberg, Alexander Lobrano, Patricia Wells, and David Lebovitz. Whenever I read books on food and France, the Proustian moment pops up (as expected).

To start this new year off well, I’d like to share my very favorite books on Food and France. Soon, I imagine that you, too, will be trying recipes, reading deep into the cold dark winter nights, and dreaming of walking through the door of your favorite chocolatier or boulangerie, tossing off your order in flawless French.

Long Ago In France: The Years in Dijon, by MFK Fisher
This started it, for me…that life-long love of France and French food. This book is both is a memoir of three years in Dijon as a postgrad student and an ode to exploring, learning, and loving food, by America’s foremost literary food writer. While still on chapter one, I ran to the store and bought a huge jar of Dijon mustard. I put it in vinaigrettes, main dishes, on sandwiches – and also, just opened it and smelled FRANCE. I still remember her descriptions of how the smell of Dijon mustard wafted through the town, and wanted it for myself. This book is, yes, still on my nightstand.

Eat Smart in France: How to decipher the menu, know the market foods, and embark on a tasting adventure, by Ronnie Heiss.
Eat Smart in France is filled with recipes (!), gorgeous photos, the history of French cuisine, tips for shopping, resources for finding ingredients, helpful phrases, a menu guide, food and flavor guide, and a reference guide to the food establishments. Want to know more? You can read our interview with author Ronnie Hess – an award-winning journalist who has lived and worked in France .

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, vols. 1 & 2, by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck
Need I say more? This is THE classic — cookbooks that have inspired movies, books, blogs, and more meals than we can count. It changed the way that Americans cooked, and thought about global cuisines. I haven’t worked my way through them one recipe at a time, but have chosen the dishes I love most to prepare. If you buy one cookbook set, let it be this.

The Sweet Life in Paris, by David Lebovitz
After I read the review here on A Traveler’s Library, I had to get this book for myself (thank you, ATL!). I was not disappointed – great recipes, marvelous stories of living in France, and pure joy at reading the life of an expat foodie in Paris. Finding spices can be difficult, depending on what you’re looking for. Finding great food? Not so difficult. A glimpse into life in a tiny apartment in Paris? Both cautionary and inspiring. A great, great read. Extra Bonus: LOTS Of chocolate references and recipes.

A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, by Molly Wizenberg
Not a book about food and France, per se. But the chapters that talk about food and France both inspire and get you in the kitchen. Author Wizenberg (if you haven’t been to her popular blog, Orangette yet, go there first) shares stories and recipes, including of her time in France. I love this kind of book, where you read a bit, and then delve into a recipe. Yes, I’ve made her father’s potato salad, and the dark chocolate ginger banana bread, and, well, almost all of the recipes in the book. Definitely worth a read, for more than the France sections. Want to know the backstory? We talked with Molly at Wandering Educators.

Hungry for Paris: The Ultimate Guide to the City’s 102 Best Restaurants, by Alexander Lobrano
Renowned food writer Lobrano seems to be all over the place – on tv, in the New York Times, Saveur, and a whole host of food magazines. He’s based in Paris. Need I say more? He’s your inside guide to eating well in Paris. Hungry for Paris also addresses cultural aspects of French Cuisine – including manners, mores, history, reservations, and more. Each restaurant Alec recommends is a gem – I almost had to stop reading after each entry, to think about what I’d order, and to visualize its location, chef, and menu for myself. Whether you have a large or small meal budget in Paris, a taste for classical French food or leaning toward ethnic or bistro fare, this book covers it. One key aspect of this book is that it teaches the reader about food in France in “The Happy Eater’s Almanac: How To Have a Perfect Meal in Paris.” Definitely a must-read, and a necessity for your next trip to Paris.

The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food, by Adam Gopnik
I’ll read just about anything by Adam Gopnik (love his articles in the New Yorker). He spent years in Paris, and is a true foodie. The essays in this book cover a variety of topics (to eat meat or not; how the modern restaurant started; contemporary French cuisine; history; culture), but it is his paean to food and family, of eating together, of the pleasures of the table (wherever that table may be) that has drawn me in.

And a kids book (because it is never too young to start either cooking or traveling)…

Crepes by Suzette, by Monica Wellington
Monica Wellington is a beloved children’s book author and illustrator. Yes, we’ve read all of her books. But this one, it is something special. Crepes by Suzette follows a crepe maker throughout her day, moving around Paris and making crepes for her customers. You’ll see your favorite Paris landmarks, of course. Wellington is truly creative, though, and works in pictorial references to great works of art. It’s fun, simple to read, teaches about a place and art, and also inspires young chefs. The crepe recipe in the book is a classic – and is the first recipe that our daughter (then 3) ever made. She’s gone on to master many other recipes (and been featured in a cookbook), but this is her very favorite.

Thanks, Jessie. For anyone who is worried about eating cheaply in Paris, check out my e-book, Ten Places to Eat Cheap(er) in Paris. 

Today’s prize to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+ is a copy of Parisian Postcards, (not reviewed) a collection of travel essays and travel tips written by Dr. Loui Franke, an American who worked and lived in France. (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Wednesday, January 11, 3:00 a.m. MST. If you already subscribe by e-mail and want an extra entry as a subscriber, be sure to tell me that in the comments. See complete rules here.) 

Disclaimer: Parisian Postcards was supplied by the author. Book cover links that take you to Amazon enable you to shop and although you spend no more, A Traveler’s Library earns a few cents with everything you buy.The photo at the top is Ken’s property. Please do not copy without express permission. Thank you.

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Music Monday

by Kerry Dexter

Destination: Scotland

Music: Acquaintance, by Jim Malcolm (Beltane Records)

There’s a statue of him in Canberra and a town named after him in Oregon, his words have inspired writers in India and musicians in Russia, and every year at the end of January, people across the world gather to remember the birth and life of this poet. More than two centuries after his time, his work is widely known by those who love poetry and Scotland, and those who don’t know a thing about either. This is Scotland’s national bard, poet and songwriter Robert Burns.

Robert Burns Statue

 Jim Malcolm is a Scot, too, and a musician, from Highland Perthshire. He’s been honored  for both his writing and his singing. Still, given Burns’ prolific output (he wrote or revised more than three hundred songs and poems) and his well-known presence in all thing Scottish, it’s a challenge for any musician from Scotland to find an approach and choose a program of songs that adds his or her own stamp to the ploughman poet’s work. It’s a challenge Malcolm meets well in his album Acquaintance.

His approach is conversational and low-key (this is the man who has been called the James Taylor of Scotland, after all), with at times a dash of humor and at times an honoring of the poet’s lyrical side. Malcolm opens the collection with Rantin’ Rovin’ Robin, a lively piece that’s a bit of a Burns autobiography. Another side of Burns, the political one which included belief in the value and equality of all, comes out in A Man’s a Man for A’ That. You can almost laugh along with the farmer’s wife and  see him dancing in  The Ploughman. Jim Malcolm and Robert Burns both show their senses of humor in The Shepherd’s Wife, as well.

Malcolm’s own wife, Susie, who is a very fine singer in her own right, joins in for a duet on that one. Westin Winds is a lyrical vignette of the Scottish landscape, and Malcolm’s own song, Killikrankie, stands in good company alongside the writings of Robert Burns.

Whether you are recalling a trip to Scotland or dreaming of one, Jim Malcolm’s album makes a fine traveling companion. If you’re still  a bit foggy on just who Robert Burns was and why his name sounds familiar — the album is called Acquaintance, and the closing song on it is Auld Lang Syne.

You might like to read about two other great contemporary takes on Robert Burns music, one by Eddi Reader and the other by Emily Smith and Jamie McClennan. You might also like to see Jim and Susie Malcolm singing his own song Fields of Angus.

As a policy of A Traveler’s Library, we tell you about affiliate links. The links included here may make it possible for you to listen to excerpts of the music, and the ones to Amazon in this post are affiliate links. If you buy anything through the affiliate links in this post, you will be supporting the site Music Road. Thank you. The  photographs are by Kerry Dexter and are copyrighted. Thank you for respecting this.

In keeping with Kerry’s celebration of the New Year and it’s famous bard, the giveaway book today is a British comic novel about Christmas, Comfort & Joy by India Knight. (England is as close to Scotland as I could get, sorry!). Today’s prize goes to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+ before the deadline. See the review of Comfort and Joy here. (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Tuesday, January 10, 3:00 a.m. MST. If you already subscribe by e-mail and want an extra entry as a subscriber, be sure to tell me that in the comments. See complete contest rules here.)

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Destination: Spain

Movie: The Way (NEW) Starring Martin Sheen,directed by Sheen’s son Emilio Estevez

By Jane Boursaw

Clearly, I live a sheltered life. I’d never even heard of the Camino de Santiago until watching The Way, a lovely film about a man whose life takes an interesting turn when he goes to Europe to collect the remains of his son.

The Trail

But first, a little background. The Camino de Santiago,  known in English as The Way of St. James, is a journey that begins on one’s own doorstep and continues 800 kilometers along the border of France and Spain, ending in the city of Santiago de Compostela, where St. James is buried. The city is now a World Heritage site.

You can read more about the Camino de Santiago here at the movie site, including the personal reasons why Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez wanted to make this movie. But to summarize, the journey has been in existence for a thousand years, and thousands of travelers, a.k.a. pilgrims, make the trip each year across Europe to Santiago de Compostela. Most travel by foot, some by bicycle, and some by horseback or donkey, just as their medieval counterparts did. Some do it for religious reasons or spiritual enlightenment, while others do it for health, travel or historical pursuits. Whatever the reason, it sounds like a great way to escape the rat race we all seem to be on.

Written, directed and produced by Emilio Estevez (whom I’ll always think of as the quirky kid in 1984′s Repo Man), The Way is based on a book by Jack Hitt titled  Off The Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim’s Route into Spain.

The story begins with Tom (Martin Sheen), an American eye doctor with a successful practice in California, receiving a phone call from Europe. His wayfaring son, Daniel (played by Estevez), has died during a Pyrenees storm while walking the Camino de Santiago. Tom has the grim task of going to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his son, with whom his relationship has been strained.

But once Tom gets there, he decides to embark on the pilgrimage himself to honor his son’s desire to finish the journey. What Tom doesn’t realize is that he’s on a journey of his own. The journey opens him up to a whole new world outside his California bubble, both physically and metaphorically.

And Tom isn’t a young man, so the trip ends up taking several months and poses all sorts of physical challenges. Still, he chugs along like the Energizer Bunny, leaving much younger folks to marvel in his wake.

Friends along The Way

Despite the fact that he’s initially annoyed with having to interact with his fellow travelers, Tom manages to form meaningful bonds with them. Jack (James Nesbitt) is an Irish writer with a serious case of writer’s block. Sara (Deborah Kara Unger) is a Canadian who’s coming to terms with an abusive relationship. And Joost (Yorick van Wageningen) is a Dutchman who’s trying to lose weight and gain confidence. The interactions between this band of misfits offers some comic relief to an otherwise heavy film.

The Way is funny, profound, and beautiful. It must have been difficult for Sheen to play a man who loses a son that’s played by his real-life son. I would think that’d hit a little close to home, and you can see that emotion on Sheen’s face throughout the movie. He doesn’t just go to Europe to collect his son’s remains; he takes the ashes along on the pilgrimage, leaving bits of ash here and there on monuments, open spaces, and historical structures along the way.

Martin Sheen Leaving Son's ashes on The Way

The Way is a wonderful story of hope and renewal, filmed in European locations with a deep sense of history and meaning. It also helps us to realize there’s a big difference between “the life we live and the life we choose.”

Jane Boursaw is a family entertainment writer specializing in movies and TV. Visit her at ReelLifeWithJane or email jboursaw@charter.net. Note: Because Jane Boursaw is an Amazon affiliate, when you click on the link to the book title in this post, although it does not cost you anything extra, Reel Life With Jane will earn a few cents to keep it going.  Photos are used with permission of the film production company.

Vera asks: Have you ever gone on a pilgrimage? Have you visited the northwestern part of Spain? The scenery certainly look gorgeous in this film trailer from YouTube, doesn’t it?

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