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Travelin' the Northeast

TRAVELIN' THE NORTHEAST (Travels with Charlie)
By Miles Backer and Chuck Nitzberg
Blue Apple Books, 2006. Unpaged. Juvenile nonfiction.

In this little kids' version of John Steinbeck's classic Travels with Charley, children are invited to visit brightly pictured regions of the country, and find Charlie among the tourist spots and historic sites. This volume looks at states from Ohio to Vermont, conveying much useful and interesting information in the form of a brisk little rhyming format that asks children, "Where's Charlie?" at the end of each verse, in the repetitive format that kids love. Billed as a "Search & Find Geography Book," this book (and the others in the series to which it belongs) not only make learning about the states painless, but great fun. Highly recommended.

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