Mission London: A Scavenger Hunt Adventure (Travel Guide For Kids) Paperback – November 22, 2014

We took a trip to London, but I wasn’t sure if my 8 year old son would appreciate everything we were seeing, so I bought Mission: London for him. This book was excellent! The book has many must-see places in London (not quite everywhere, but most of the places we went). My son liked searching for things that the book told him to look for. Even as we were standing in line for Westminster Abbey, he was looking for the gargoyles on the exterior! The book was great because it gave some basic information about the building and then a few interesting facts—nothing too overwhelming. The book encourages kids to engage with what they’re seeing—rather than wandering aimlessly with no idea what they’re looking at. You could use this for kids younger than 8, if you’re willing to read it and help kids find it OR if you have an older child/multiple children reading and working together. I’d say ages 8-12 are ideal. If you’re taking kids to London, this is a must have!

This is a delightful children’s adventure book that the whole family can enjoy when in London. It will keep your child (or children) engaged with a thrilling challenge to see if they have what it takes to become a spy. But adults will likely have just as much fun playing along.The individual missions in the book are clearly marked and laid out with gorgeous photographs and artwork, befitting the legendary landmarks you will likely explore while on vacation. Kids tasked with completing their missions will find themselves unwittingly learning as much as you about London’s history, culture, art, politics, geography… there’s quite a broad spectrum of education crammed within these pages, and none of it comes off as such. It all comes off as wicked fun. If schools back home were set up this way, I imagine kids would learn a lot more. It’s like teaching engineering and design by having a class build a hang glider then going out and flying one. This sexy appeal to learning makes the kids’ taking in everything about their new world with wide eyed wonder a foregone conclusion. And by interlacing the Mission London playbook with your travels you might find the added bonus that the kids will remember the trip well into adulthood; something they might not otherwise do without the anchor points provided in the text.Highly recommended for kids and parents alike. Don’t forget to load up your cell phone or tablet with this ebook before boarding the plane!

We used both the London and Rome books with our kids (7-10 years old) and they were both big hits. The scavenger hunt style is really engaging and helps kids stay interested. The books tend to focus on historical sites that might not be as naturally interesting for kids and helps stave off potential boredom in those places. As an adult, it helped me notice small details I likely would have overlooked as well.

My grandchildren ages 9 and 12 really enjoyed this book. It gave them things to look forward to seeing and kept them engaged in the sightseeing tours. They (and their parents) found this book very helpful.

Really fun! My grandson (8 yrs old) loved looking for clues and pictures--it kept him really engaged in sightseeing. I would have loved it if there was a center map of London included--would have been nice for him to be able to reference. Also, would have liked to see more "free point" challenges as we didn't have time to visit some of the major sights that lots of point opportunities. Highly recommend. Also, size is great and its lightweight.

We had fun with this book in London. My 8-year-old son enjoyed reading over it before our trip, and I think it helped him to have a good amount of background knowledge and expectations for what we would be seeing. It was also great to keep him busy while we were stuck waiting in lines, telling him to read up about the place before we got inside. My husband might have enjoyed checking things off inside the book even more than my son did. In the end, we didn't always follow through on looking for everything mentioned in the book or going to all of those places, but it was the perfect kid-friendly way to prepare for our trip and a good thing to have to pull out when we had a slow moment. Also, it is light-weight enough to carry around in a day pack without any trouble.

Our 5 and 10 year old loved following the clues in sites that might otherwise bore little ones. My 5 year old was more into than the 10 year old, but they both participated. In some of the larger sites, like the British Museum, I wish there were room numbers listed or items were in location order because it was hard to find items at times, but that’s a minor challenge to be aware of. Buy this book, it’s a true gift on a trip to London!

I bought two for each of my kids. My 12-year old daughter was somewhat interested and tried to follow it. My 10 year old didn't like the book at all.