Word Travelers

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product (Word Travelers) through Raincoast Books.  Affiliate Links will be used, thank you for your support of my blog, costs you nothing to do so.

Ooohhh… an adventure story for elementary students!  🙂   What fun!  Eric and his best friend MJ love having sleep-overs and despite their differences remain great friends.  It all starts with yet another sleepover and a question… “What do you think the word pajamas means?”  Before you know it, the children are off on an adventure.

What I am Reviewing

Word Travelers: the Mystery of the the Taj Mahal Treasure was put together by Paj Jaldar.  Raj Haldar is a New York Times bestselling author.  He also wrote other books that I thoroughly enjoyed such as No reading allowed and Pterodactyl the worst Alphabet book.  Given that fun of that particular read I was intrigued by the possiblities of this one.  It is the first in a series of Word Travelers.   The next one takes us to Mexico.  

This particular book is geared to 7-10 year olds, it’s an early chapter book.  An ARC copy was provided for me by Raincoast Books. Sourcebooks Explore is the publisher and it runs at 132 pages.  Illustrated by Neha Rawat.

Learning more about Word Travelers!

Two good friends find themselves on an adventure complete with clues to solve.  Do you stop and solve the clue before continuing on with the story?  It’s sometimes a hard choice to stop or just continue, I find myself mixing it up when I come across clues in books. This one I even knew the answer to beforehand!

You’ll find images scattered throughout, every page has something to further expand on the story. Neha Rawat does an excellent job of bringing out the emotions of the characters.  

I love that the bad guy is bad.  He is, but he’s not a slimey, horrible bad guy.  Just a guy out to make money and try to mess over the goals of the kids. Being kids helps them out in the end as the bad guy simply can’t do what they can do!  The angry face and the dark clothes makes him very obvious, good for a children’s book.  

You’ll find the writing suitable for children 7-10 with any unusual words being defined, not only within context, but also in the glossary at the close of the book.  This book is part adventure and part education, woven together into a fun, fast-paced story. 

Add it to your shelves?

Will your 7-10 year olds enjoy Word Travelers: The Mystery of the Taj Mahal treasure?  I think so.  The writing is easy, new words are explained, and there’s a mystery to solve by two best friends!  This all makes for a fun and interesting read.  Having to solve clues…. even better!    

Having lots of pictures (even the grey scale ones in my copy) just help bring the story to life, all the better for young readers! 

Homeschoolers might love this book if studying India or the origin of words.  You’ll find it a good introduction to the world of etymology… and who knows where that interest might lead. 🙂