The best travel books
for kids, by destination.
A real book, tied to a real upcoming trip, turns an abstract place into somewhere a kid can already picture. Here is what we actually reach for.
Madeline, and the This Is... series.
Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline is the obvious starting point for Paris, and it has earned its status for a reason: it is short, rhythmic, and genuinely holds a four-year-old's attention. For a longer list of destinations, Miroslav Sasek's mid-century This Is... series (reissued in recent years) covers individual cities including Rome, London, Venice and New York, each with the same charming, illustrated format. If a destination on your trip has a volume, it is worth tracking down before you go.
Rosie in Paris, for the walking-age band.
We wrote Rosie in Paris because the age band we kept landing in, roughly 4 to 8, was thin on options between baby board books and full middle-grade chapter books. It follows a cat detective through Paris and works well as trip prep, and we are including it here the same honest way we would recommend any other book: because it fits a real gap, not because we wrote it.
What families ask us.
What are the best travel books for kids by destination?
Ludwig Bemelmans' Madeline for Paris at ages 4 and up, Miroslav Sasek's long-running This Is... series for a long list of cities including Rome, London and Venice, and our own Rosie in Paris for the walking-age band between picture books and middle-grade.
What is the This Is... book series?
A mid-century illustrated series by Miroslav Sasek, reissued in recent years, with a dedicated book for individual cities like Rome, London, Venice, and New York. Each one is a strong pre-trip pick for a specific destination on our own guide list.
What age is a destination-specific book best for?
Roughly ages 4 to 8. Younger than that, a specific place is too abstract to land; older than that, kids are usually ready for a chapter book or a guidebook instead of a picture book.
How far before a trip should we start reading?
A few weeks out works well, read more than once. Our own piece on getting kids excited about a Paris trip covers the timing and the reasoning in more detail.