Adventures at the turn of the 20th century

Far Beyond

Brown, Don. Far Beyond the Garden Gate: Alexandra David-Neel’s Journey to Lhasa. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2002.

The spirit of Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney shines in this true story of an early 20th century explorer who was 43-years-old when she set out for India. Travelling through the Himalayas, with a young companion whom she later adopted, David-Neel was the first Western woman to visit the capital of Tibet. Evocative full-page illustrations accompany this inspiring picture book for readers 8-years-old and up.  

Stories set in the past HERE.

“Despite having seen a fair amount of the world, I still love travelling – I just have an insatiable curiosity and like looking out of a window.” – Michael Palin

Stories of adventure HERE.

“Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Stories of courage HERE.

Tillie the Terrible

Stauffacher, Sue. Tillie the Terrible Swede: How One Woman, a Sewing Needle, and a Bicycle Changed History. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 

Another determined woman at the turn of the 20th century changed her world when she set out to become a cyclist. Wearing a special cycling costume which she had designed, she attracted fame as a long distance racing champion.  Recommended for readers 8-years-old and up. 

“Curiosity is free-wheeling intelligence.” – Alistair Cooke

More stories about strong female characters HERE.

“I’ve always felt that what I have going for me is not my imagination, because everyone has an imagination. What I have is a relentlessly controlled imagination. What looks like wild invention is actually quite carefully calculated.” – Terry Pratchett

Mr. Ferris

Davis, Kathryn Gibbs. Mr. Ferris and His Wheel. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014. 

In 1893, the first ferris wheel was built for the Chicago’s World Fair. Designed to outshine Paris’s Eiffel Tower which had attracted fame only four years earlier, the lights from George Ferris’s great wheel could be seen at night from forty miles away.  A true story and marvellous picture book for readers 8-years-old and up.

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” – Albert Einstein

More stories about real people HERE.

“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power to that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” – J.K. Rowling

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