Hunter on holiday: A big trip around Europe by Jessica and Stephen Parry-Valentine. Illus. by Ashlee Spink

A family trip is being planned and this gives the young girl a chance to have a look at all the places she would like to see in Europe. The endpapers give a wonderful map of Europe with many of the places she would like to see shown.

The first two double pages show their planning for the trip.  She outlines thye will need to fly to Europe, with time spent at the airport and then buckle into seats ready to take off. First stop she wants to go to England where she wants to see the rolling green hills, and eat scones with clotted cream, then on to London and readers will recognise the flags, London Eye, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben amongst other notable icons. They will go north to Scotland where they will  interact with cattle and puffins, over the sea to Norway where kayaking in a fjord is the way to go. Next is Iceland where castles can be made on the shore using black sand, and Finland to see the reindeer. Germany comes next to view little red houses and the fairy tale castles. Each of the countries is spread over a double page, with views of the countryside and dotted with iconic images that the country is known for. The family also includes Switzerland, Paris, Spain, Italy and Greece, and on the last double page writing her list of the places she wants to see with her family. Again the pictures on the wall in their house, reiterates some of the views she would like to see. The last page gives a list of things readers can find on each of the pages.

The illustrations give a vista of each of the European countries visited and readers will enjoy looking at where these places are on the endpaper maps. They will also enjoy spotting things on  each page showing some of the things that country to city is known for.

The rhyming text will make it easy for readers to join in, and they will have fun predicting the rhyming words.

Themes: Europe, Cities, Travel, Planning, Tourism.

Fran Knight