What better way to escape a long winter at home than with books?! Get cozy on your couch and Travel the World from Home by reading some YA books that will fuel your wanderlust. Don’t forget to track your reading through February 27 to win prizes through our Winter Reading Program! Learn more at fondulaclibrary.org/2020/12/30/2021-adult-winter-reading-program/.
A Manga Lover’s Tokyo Travel Guide: My Favorite Things to See and Do in Japan! by Evangeline Neo
In this captivating Tokyo travel guide, manga artist and author Evangeline Neo travels to the Japanese capital with her mascots (Kopi & Matcha) in tow, bringing you to all the otaku sights this city has to offer! She shows you where to shop for manga memorabilia in Akihabara and Nakano, takes you on a tour of famous anime and manga museums like Studio Ghibli and Sanrio Puroland, and shares her experiences at a cosplay studio, a maid and butler café, and a manga drawing class. Eva brings readers to all the must-see Tokyo sites as well — from Asakusa’s Sensoji Temple to Tokyo Tower and the Meiji Shrine — and introduces travelers to sushi train restaurants, hot spring baths, kimono makeover sessions, and day trips to Mt. Fuji! Along the way, she shows you all her favorite places to shop and eat, and gives advice on what to pack, what to buy, how to get around, and even how to speak a few words of survival Japanese.
Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali
Zayneb, a Muslim American high school senior, leaves for spring break in Doha, Qatar, a week early when she is suspended for a note she wrote in class aout her Islamophobic history teacher. Adam, a Muslim Canadian college freshman, is returning to Doha to see his father and sister, with some unfortunate news about his health that he’s reluctant to disclose. Zayneb’s passion for justice fills her with righteous anger that she finds difficult to direct. Adam is a calm peace-seeker who wishes he didn’t feel quite so alone. What they have in common: each has been keeping a “Marvels and Oddities” journal (“recording the wonders and thorns in the garden of life”), based on an ancient book they’d both discovered. Sparks fly – but will their differences threaten to drive them apart?
A Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
Henry “Monty” Montague doesn’t care that his roguish passions are far from suitable for the gentleman he was born to be. But as Monty embarks on his grand tour of Europe, his quests for pleasure and vice are in danger of coming to an end. Not only does his father expect him to take over the family’s estate upon his return, but Monty is also nursing an impossible crush on his best friend and traveling companion, Percy.
So Monty vows to make this yearlong escapade one last hedonistic hurrah and flirt with Percy from Paris to Rome. But when one of Monty’s reckless decisions turns their trip abroad into a harrowing manhunt, it calls into question everything he knows, including his relationship with the boy he adores.
Atlas Obscura by Joshua Foer
More a cabinet of curiosities than traditional guidebook, Atlas Obscura revels in the unexpected, the overlooked, the bizarre, and the mysterious. Every page gets to the very core of why humans want to travel in the first place: to be delighted and disoriented, uprooted from the familiar and amazed by the new. With its compelling descriptions, hundreds of photographs, surprising charts, maps for every region of the world, and new city guides, it is a book you can open anywhere and be transported.
In a Perfect World by Trish Doller
Caroline Kelly is excited to be spending her summer vacation working at the local amusement park with her best friend, exploring weird Ohio with her boyfriend, and attending soccer camp with the hope she’ll be her team’s captain in the fall. But when Caroline’s mother is hired to open an eye clinic in Cairo, Egypt, Caroline’s plans are upended. Caroline is now expected to spend her summer and her senior year in a foreign country, away from her friends, her home, and everything she’s ever known. With this move, Caroline predicts she’ll spend her time navigating crowded streets, eating unfamiliar food, and having terrible bouts of homesickness. But what she finds instead is a culture that surprises her, a city that astounds her, and a charming, unpredictable boy who challenges everything she thought she knew about life, love, and privilege.
– Katie Smith, Reference Specialist