Book Find

One thing I enjoy in my free time is reading, but it can be hard to find a book I really want to read. So many are promising, but may not live up to their billing.  While browsing the online card catalog for my library I came across this title: My American Adventure 50 States 50 Weeks. So since we are studying the states this year I decided to request it and see if it was something that I could read aloud to my kids.  There wasn't much of a description in the card catalog entry so I really didn't know what I was getting. Well, it was a lot more than I even hoped. I thoroughly enjoyed it and had a hard time putting it down.

My American Adventure was written by a young lady, Amy Burritt, who along with her brother was homeschooled. Their parents decided that for one year they would rent out their home, live in a RV and travel around the United States. During their time on the road they visit many historical and tourist sites around the country. Amy also decided that over the course of these travels she would like to meet and interview all 50 governors.  The book chronicles her experiences in trying to set up meetings with governors and the sometimes less than favorable reception from staff members. She also writes about her meetings with the governors and what she found interesting in her interviews. She had several disappointments along the way, but she had a spectacular finish to her project.

Along with the interviews Amy worked on a special keepsake project throughout their travels, but I'm not going to spoil the surprise, you'll just have to read the book to find out about it.

The book is not a recent publication, the Burritts' traveled the US in 1995 and 1996.


Although the book is cataloged as Adult Non-Fiction, I see no reason that an upper elementary aged child couldn't read it.  There are so few books which portraying homeschooling in a positive manner, let alone written by a homeschooler, so this is definitely a welcome volume.  My 10 year old could certainly handle the reading aspect of the book, but she would find the travel and project so exciting she would want to do something like it.  A project of this magnitude just isn't possible right now, so to avoid putting ideas in her head and give her something to bother me about I'm just not telling her about it. I know, that's mean of me!