When my oldest child was about seven, we happened to visit the Jack London State Historic Park, the preserved ranch of the early 20th-century author famous for adventure novels like Call of the Wild and White Fang.
We were on a family road trip, and the state park offered a convenient stop along the way. As it turned out, it also opened a door into new literary worlds for my son. Realizing a little context would make our spur-of-the-moment stop more interesting, I downloaded an audiobook of White Fang from our public library and handed my son a pair of headphones.
He was fascinated, and it kicked off a love of wilderness adventure stories that wound up driving him to independently read a slew of books starting with the Hatchet series by Gary Paulsen and progressing through a wide variety of other children’s literature.
Eventually, the rich reading world that had opened up to him led him beyond children’s and middle-grade fiction. Soon, he was devouring all-ages fiction like The Martian by Andy Weir, along with nonfiction like Revenge of the Whale, a young readers’ version of a National Book Award-winning historical tale of a real-life event that inspired Moby Dick.
His reading level skyrocketed, and I’m confident his enjoyment of reading for fun was a huge driver of that. Many things contributed to his love of reading—listening to stories read aloud by me and other relatives, oral storytelling, abundant (if tattered, often free) books—but I think that trip, too, helped build our family culture of excitement around stories, history, and learning.
Some years later, I wound up on another literary adventure, this time with my daughters. We had the chance to visit two beautifully preserved historic homes that belonged to a children’s author and her childhood best friend—both immortalized in a set of autobiographical children’s novels.
The writer, Maud Hart Lovelace, based her Betsy-Tacy series very closely on her life growing up in small-town Minnesota in the early 1900s. The homes of Lovelace and her best friend—Betsy and Tacy in the stories—featured in great detail. The houses have been preserved as historic monuments, offering a fascinating window into both the fictional world and times gone by.
This literary adventure, too, offered up new horizons for my kids. It not only fostered and reinforced excitement around reading, but also opened the door to conversations about history, the interaction between literature and life, and important topics touched on in the books themselves. It also transported all of us, mentally, into a very different time and space, causing us to see the world from another perspective, stretching our thinking and growing our empathy.
It got me thinking about literary tourism with children, and how wonderful and invigorating it is to expand young minds with special experiences. From children’s museums to aquariums, historic sites to art museums, library presentations to author talks to political events, there are fun enrichment options for any family, budget, and interest. (My brother traveled to see an eclipse with his kids, for example.)
All enrich their minds, build their vocabulary and knowledge, challenge their thinking, and spark their creativity.
I suggest that literary tourism should be on your list, whether to a local site where you can make a day trip or a farther-off spot you can build a vacation around. Below are a few tips for literary tourism with children and for finding good destinations to get you started.
Tips for Literary Tourism with Kids
Follow their interests, but build excitement.
If your child loves a certain author or book, that’s a great place to start exploring literary tourism opportunities—but it’s also powerful to expose them to a new author or book, especially if you model enthusiasm, genuine interest, and curiosity. Ultimately, your choice of destinations will be bounded by what’s in reach within your area, timeframe, or budget.
Any outing will work best if you’re mindful of your child’s interests and attention span. The Jack London ranch site was a good match for an active seven-year-old, because the historic house tour was balanced with plenty of space for free play outside. Be sure to avoid any obvious mismatches, like taking an easily frightened child on a tour of a “haunted” site that inspired a ghost story!
If possible, read some of the stories before you visit a literary tourism location, but you can also use an interesting visit to kick off family explorations of a new writer or book series. You can even share a book on the way to or from an excursion. I used to love reading aloud to my kids during road trips (when I was fortunate enough not to be the one driving), but throwing on an audiobook while I drove generally worked just as well.
Wherever you go, bring your sense of fun, curiosity, and patience. Whether or not you got to dig into the relevant stories ahead of time, build excitement on the trip itself through your attitude. Make it fun for your kiddo: get them snacks, take breaks, cut short any parts that just aren’t working for them, and adapt to their mood.
Most of all, talk to them. Ask them questions, explain things they don’t know or understand, share your reactions, and get them thinking about it all—which brings us to the next point.
Foster curiosity and critical thinking through deep conversation.
Visiting sites associated with an author or literary work offers an opportunity to discuss important concepts, and often values, with your child. It can open up powerful chances to engage around the author and their works’ context, themes, and impact. Many literary tourism sites are connected with older literature, meaning they introduce children to the relevant historical eras, along with weighty social and political issues from their times.
For example, the Betsy-Tacy series brings to life a time before TV, when telephones and cars were major novelties. The series also frequently explores themes of standing up for beliefs vs going along with the crowd. One of the books features the characters making friends with a Syrian immigrant, then being faced with an angry crowd taunting their new friend with slurs.
Another recounts a theatrical production of Uncle Tom’s Cabin—an 1852 abolitionist novel credited with building popular anti-enslavement feeling pre-Civil War—complete with white actors in blackface. This was shocking to me, and it might have been tempting to gloss over it or just put the book aside in favor of newer works. But it described a historical reality, and the story proved a valuable opening to broach important, challenging topics in a natural way.
It got them thinking about why white actors would have played black characters, alongside questions like how popular culture influences politics and the difference between going along with the status quo in a moment in history or trying to rise above it. In the end, it was a chance to impart values, develop their empathy, and foster critical thinking—all in the guise of entertainment and family bonding.
Mind you, any conversation and engagement with your child during shared experiences will build their knowledge, vocabulary, brain, and bond with you, so don’t worry if you’re connecting around lighter topics! Just talk and reflect—together.
Make literary tourism work for your family’s schedule, budget, and ages.
There’s no one best way to do literary tourism with kids. You don’t have to spend a fortune flying to England to see the stomping grounds of Beatrix—or Harry—Potter or to Japan to trace the origins of your child’s favorite manga. You can likely find various options close to home or in areas you’re traveling to anyway.
There are opportunities for literature-related adventures everywhere. Local libraries often have displays about popular authors and the worlds they write about, book stores host author talks or themed book events, or you could craft a literary adventure to anywhere related to a book’s location, author, or topic.
A visit to a science museum could be a bookish outing for a child obsessed with Chickasaw American astronaut John Herrington’s Mission to Space—or for one who loved E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web (to see an arachnid exhibit). The latter might also love a trip to the countryside that inspired the author, while the former might like to know more about Chicasaw culture if they come from a different background.
Get creative and you can find a way to build literary exploration into your outings, already-planned travel, or spur-of-the moment adventures.
Check out our list of some U.S. literary tourism sites associated with children’s authors, search for sites in your area or vacation destination, or research places associated with a favorite author or book series.
Tip: Consult the American Library Association’s literary landmarks list, the nonprofit Author Adventures site, the National Register of Historic Places, and library or bookstore events calendars for ideas. Have fun!
