Sita Brahmachari 

Sita Brahmachari’s top 10 books that take you travelling

The author of Artichoke Hearts and Jasmine Skies picks her favourite books that take you on a journey, from epic trips to the beginning of time to stomach-churning races to places of safety
  
  

The Little Prince
Journeys of body and mind: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince Photograph: Public Domain

Sita Brahmachari's first novel, Artichoke Hearts, won the 2011 Waterstone's children's book prize and her second novel, Jasmine Skies, was published in March 2012. Sita is currently co-creating The Arrival, a theatre-circus production based on Shaun Tan's graphic novel about migration.

Buy Jasmine Skies at the Guardian bookshop

Read the first chapter of Jasmine Skies

"These days when it comes to the school holidays my older children are keen to go off on adventures on their own. I remember the same feeling at their age of being desperate to travel the world without the rest of my family in tow. Often in novels, when young people go on amazing, daring and dangerous adventures, the author has to find a way of removing over-involved, responsible adults! You may have noticed that adult figures in children's books tend to be either: absent, very liberal, old and eccentric, alternative or hippy, or dead and therefore absent (orphans abound in children's literature).

As a child I loved books where young people got to go on adventures and quests that changed them forever. Reading stories about travelling to far-flung places and making extraordinary journeys (either forced or through choice) allowed me as a young person to travel to places that I could have only dreamed of seeing and experiencing in reality, but even now I feel as if I've breathed the air of all the book countries I've travelled to and the memory of these stories still play about my mind. Here are some of my childhood favourites and some more contemporary odysseys."

1. Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson

Open the pages of this book and you will be immediately transported. Set in the early 20th century, poor Maia's parents are tragically killed in a train accident. Her only living relatives, the Carters, live on an estate in the Amazon rainforest! So, if you've ever fancied going to Brazil and travelling up the Amazon River to live with an ancient tribe deep under the canopy of the rainforest, you get to travel there with Maia and her friend Finn. From the moment you open the pages of this book you will feel as if you are walking in Maia's shoes.

2. Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud

This book is narrated by a five-year-old girl, Bea, but is meant for older readers. It's the 1960s and Bea's Mum and Dad are divorced. Mum's had enough of dull humdrum life in England and, without telling Bea and her sister where she's going, she whisks them off to Marrakech, Morocco, to join other Europeans on the "hippy trail". The book is semi-autobiographical and Esther Freud brings the vibrancy of Morocco to life. At one point Mum disappears completely to go and explore Sufism, leaving Bea with a family she hardly knows. Mum's absence allows the girls to explore what they want out of life. Both girls dream of having a more "normal" upbringing in an English school with stodgy school dinners. Be careful what you wish for!

3. My Family and Other Animals By Gerald Durrell

The narrator, based on Durrell himself as a child, is a completely free spirit and roams the island of Corfu observing plant, animal, insect and human life as if under the lens of microscope. The book is set in the 1930s and we are allowed to travel the island with the Durrell family, and their ever-growing collection of animals, and visit the three villas they lived in. If you think your family are eccentric … this book is laugh-out-loud funny!

4. The Arrival by Shaun Tan

This wonderful graphic novel encapsulates the epic emotions that go into leaving the land of your birth behind. The man in the hat in The Arrival has to leave his family and migrate across the vast ocean and sky to find himself in a strange new city full of peculiar animals, a foreign language, food and culture. The extraordinary sepia images of flight, changing seasons, representations of fear and loneliness, as well as friendship, make this book of pictures speak louder than words.

5. The Other Side of Truth by Beverley Naidoo

Some journeys are undertaken out of choice and others are forced upon people, and in this novel Sade and Femi, the children of a Nigerian journalist are forced to flee their homeland, in secret. Gunshots are everywhere and a normal school day turns into a tragic nightmare. Sade and Femi need to face life in England, where everything is new to them, as they strive to find safety. This book made my heart race and my stomach churn for justice.

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

This novella, written by a pilot, became one of the bestselling novels ever published. It's about an alien child prince, from another planet, who falls to earth and lands in the Sahara desert. This story will make you laugh and cry as the young prince meets various characters, like "fox". He starts to think about his own planet, which is only the size of a house. When I watch Dr Who I often wonder if some of the ideas behind the quirky doctor came from this wonderful book.

7. The Odyssey by Homer

A simplified children's version of The Odyssey, with images of Odysseus's adventure, was the first book I had read about a truly epic journey. It takes Odysseus, the Greek hero, 10 years to return to his home after the Trojan War. On his way he faces many challenges, such as being enchanted by wicked sea sirens, or facing the angry Cyclops. Only when the Goddess takes pity on him does Odysseus finally find his way home. These classical myths laid the foundations for all great stories of adventure and quest.

8. Tales of India by Jamila Gavin

The greatest journeying must be to the very beginnings of time. How was the world created? In this beautiful new book, illustrated by Amanda Hall, you will meet the multi-faceted Hindu gods and goddesses. Many people may have seen the film Avatar but when you read about the birth of Lord Krishna you will discover the true meaning of an avatar.

9. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

This adventure, set in the India, is a quest for a young boy to help his father get back his storytelling powers. The story has a mythical feel to it, as if the young hero might have been a Greek or Hindu God. Haroun travels through the Mists of Misery, meeting magical creatures on his epic journey in search of the story.

10. Kensuke's Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo

This is a beautiful adventure story about family and roots and what home means to different people. After losing their jobs, Michael's parents decide to fulfill a lifelong dream of sailing around the world. They take Michael out of school and set out on their ship Peggy Sue. On an island in the Pacific, where Michael finds himself marooned with his dog, Stella Artois and he meets Kensuke, an old Japanese man who becomes his teacher and guide.

 

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