Away and Back – The Train Home by Dan-ah Kim

Every so often I come across a picture book that's intended for children but touches me as an adult, and this is one of those stories. Set in Brooklyn, NY, along the route of the F train (not disclosed in the text, but I easily recognized it), it's the tender and poignant tale of Nari, a young girl in an immigrant family, who's feeling a bit frustrated by her crowded apartment home, and the city environment with all of its noise and tensions.

Her "escape" is on the elevated train that passes by her window. She imagines a ride to multiple destinations – flower gardens, woods, museums, under the ocean and up to the stars. Eventually, just like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, she realizes that there's "no place like home" and that her happy place is there with her family.

The illustrations are charming, and the text is just enough of a story to delight both young children, their parents, and grandparents.  

Time Stretching Machine - a few thoughts on travel

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to set up your own time stretching machine that allowed you to create an alternative universe in which you could read as many books and see as many movies as you like?

One of my favorite travel ideas was to book a cabin on a long-haul freighter, bring along a telescope and a trunk full of books, and cruise around the world for a few months, stopping in at the ports of call if they interested me. This was before the advent of the dangers of the pirate attacks on cargo ships, and before the Kindle and IPad existed, which would have made that travel a whole lot lighter and easier. Unfortunately, it became more a fantasy than an idea as life interfered with unexpected demands, and the Great Recession changed everything.

At this point, I'm not sure freighters accept passengers anymore, but if I had the money for such a voyage, I'd still like to consider it, along with an extensive road trip in the US with no end date, and no specific destination, but lots of books on the Kindle for relaxing stops in interesting places along with visits with friends, and to see landmarks and museums.