|
Frommer's 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up | 
| Author: Holly Hughes
Publisher: Frommer's
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $7.57
You Save: $12.42 (62%)
New (44) Used (21) from $7.29
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 23077
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0764595881
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.202
EAN: 9780764595882
ASIN: 0764595881
Publication Date: August 7, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
500 Places to Take Your Kids allows parents, grandparents, and kids to create a lifetime of shared memories while visiting destinations the whole family can enjoy. Here are cities, zoos, sports shrines, museums, castles, beaches, outdoor activities, and more—500 thoughtfully-chosen places that will enchant and beguile both the young and the young at heart. Each entry contains all the information families need to help plan a trip: age ratings, service details, and nearby kid-friendly hotels. A Specialty Index organized by type of trip helps families discover places and activities for all ages and interests, while a Geographical Index allows families to locate attractions across the world or simply across town. Photos throughout the book help bring destinations to life. Free companion podcast is available for download!
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Interesting but Unrealistic August 17, 2006
Mrs. F. Darcy (Merritt Island, FL USA)
75 out of 77 found this review helpful
I had high expectations for this book but they fell flat. First, the layout is o.k. but not great. Areas are grouped by categories such as "Out and About" and "On the Water." As the book covers the world, I think it might have been better to be laid out geographically and maybe cross-referenced. As for the selections, they are very diverse. Some make sense but some I really don't feel are appropraite for children, except for maybe the very well travelled child. For example, number 397 is Mount Fuji: Scaling the Symbol of Japan. The age range is 8 and up. The author writes, "Take a shortcut directly to Kawaguchiko's Fifth Stage by bus from Shinjuku Station (be sure to book in advance); the trip takes about 2 1/2 hours. From this starting point it's about a 6 hour climb to the summit, with another 3 hours to make the descent; at the top, a 1-hour hiking trail circles the crater. The highlight of the classic Fuji Climb is to watch the sunrise from the peak, which in summer means being there by 4:30 am." I was hoping for more "kid friendly" suggestions. I don't think I'll be visiting number 280 "Hiroshima: The Original Ground Zero" or number 277 "The D-Day Beaches of Normandy" with my son anytime soon. Perhaps the child that is a huge history buff would understand the significance.
The positives are that the author provides good detail for each area with tips and tricks, good hotel, airport and contact information, and age ranges. There are some very unique groupings which make for an interesting read.
The negatives are that is it is an unrealistic travel guide for the average family, the "Why They'll Thank You" is weak, and it still didn't help me decide what to do next summer!
 A fairly useless book January 11, 2007
IndyDon (Indiana)
42 out of 46 found this review helpful
Wow, was I disappointed when I cracked this book open. My two main complaints are layout and site selections. I cannot believe that sites are grouped by general similarity rather than geography. The geographical index at the back of the book just does not satisfy me. Any book like this should be organized from a geographical standpoint in my opinion. You will be required to look at the geographical index at the back of the book to find anything specific. I was hoping the book focused on the US or let's be wild and say North America. While I did not count them up, I would guesstimate that almost half of the sites are outside of North America. You would have to be extremely wealthy to visit many of these places and a fair number really are not place where I would want to take "kids" as they would only appeal to high school age or above. There are better books out there - in this case the Internet would serve you better.
 Aspirational list February 1, 2007
penguinblue (CT USA)
28 out of 31 found this review helpful
I'm surprised by the number of negative reviews of this book so I thought I would offer my own counterpoint. This is the best list I've found of aspirational places to take children. The only comparable list book I've found is the ever-popular 1000 Places to See Before You Die, which isn't oriented around kids at all. Of course they will all want to go to Disney World, but this is a different type of list. These are places that kids should visit to understand more about the world, how people behave, how science works, and what life is like for people who aren't always like themselves. It is not a list of fun places to take little kids.
We've been lucky enough to have visited 97 of the places with our kids, now aged 15 and 20. It's been a blessing to us to be able to visit places like Thailand, which is wonderful, and the Great Barrier Reef and indeed Mount Fuji and Hiroshima. People in Japan take many kids ages 8 to 10 to the muesum at Hiroshima; it's a fantastically well done museum about a topic that every kid--and adult--should understand. The only one of the places that really didn't give us much of a thrill was Agate Fossil Beds in Nebraska. My guess is that the authors HAD to pick something in Nebraska. We just used the book to pick #97 which was the Spy Museum in Washington DC -- a great spot we hadn't heard of.
The only reason I don't give this book 5 stars is that it really could benefit from a geographical cross-reference. Many items do offer a list of items nearby which is helpful.
So maybe it is easier to take kids to Disney World, but think about these places too. A terrific book to think about for a lifetime of travel with your family.
 Could have been done better January 27, 2007
first a mom
23 out of 27 found this review helpful
While this book is packed with information, it isn't laid out in a way that is of any practical use. As others have mentioned, the expectations of children and what they are able to handle are unrealistic. My 8 year old will not climb a mountain for 6 hours at a steep grade only to enter into below-freezing wind chill temperatures and wait for a sunrise. A three year old truly is not fun on a 16 hour bus trip, no matter how "family friendly" the company running it is. Also, the book does not explain WHY I should take my child to each place. When I saw the book, I assumed Frommers had an extensive decision-making process where only the top 500 would be listed. Having read the book, it feels more like they had a dartboard and took 500 shots. About 70% of the places were destinations only history-minded adults would appreciate. I had my teenager and his friends thumb through the book and the concensus was that most items were not of any interest to them. Lastly, to not organize the items geographically was a huge mistake. This is one book that needs to be rewritten by people with children and families in mind.
Not EXACLY what I had hoped for October 9, 2006
Melissa3 (Indiana)
20 out of 24 found this review helpful
I had really hoped for more realistic ideas to go on vacation with my three children, one elementary age, preschooler, and toddler. I expected the book to leave out ideas for my toddler, but was surprised to see a lot of the suggestions left out my preschooler as well.
The books layout could have been better, by placing vacations spots by location, rather than 'Weird & Wonderful' or 'Windows on History'. I guess Frommer's makes up for this with the geographical index at the end of the book.
It seemed the book could have been condensed a little, like instead of listing Chicago's museums seperatly in different catagories, just list the city then list the must see museums and zoo.
Some of the suggestions were just silly. I'm probably not taking my kids to Cambodia, Guatemala, or Thailand. (unless we had relatives there) And they left out Disney World. Everyone wants to take their kids to Disney World before they grow up!
There were some good suggestions, but not as many that we can afford that i thought there would be.
|
|
|
Thank you for shopping at the Depot.com online shopping depot.
©2009 Depot.com | |
