We're Off

What you'll find inside

Seven sections. Your child can start with any of them. These pages are from the first book, We're Off to the Far North: Lapland.

The pictures in the book are illustrations, not photographs of particular places. Select any page to open it larger.

Section 1 of 7

My Trip to Lapland

Their name, who is coming, and a map to mark where they are staying.

Four things to discover, each with the page that explains it. Then room for what they want to find out and what they want to do.

The journey has its own page: the best bit, the worst bit, and a place for a ticket or a view from the window.

Book page titled Things to discover. Four small illustrations: a sky without a sunrise, a reindeer digging, a tree in disguise and a cupboard with no bottom, each with the page that explains it. Below are lines headed Something I want to find out and Something I want to do.
First look Things to discover

Section 2 of 7

Play

Spot the difference. Riddles. Four friends and four rooms to work out. A route through the snow. Tracks behind the cabin, and which animal went where. A picture code, and five Finnish words to find.

The Far North spotter lasts the whole holiday: a kick sled, a husky team, a drying cabinet, a Karelian pie. Twenty points and they have done it. Forty if they find the lot.

Book page titled Spot the difference. Two drawings of a cabin with a car, two people and a kick sled outside. There are six differences to find, six circles to tick off and a hint: one is up high, one is on the car.
First look Spot the difference
Book page titled Far North spotter, two points each. Nine illustrations with tick boxes: a log cabin, a kick sled, high snow banks, a tree in disguise, a husky team, a reindeer, a reindeer sleigh, a reflector and a lit sledging hill.
First look Far North spotter

Section 3 of 7

Get to Know Lapland

The guide. How the Sun can stay down all day and the sky still be light. How the northern lights are made. Why snow can look blue inside. How a spruce can disappear under snow until it looks like a bear.

Then people: Finnish homes, school lunch, the Sámi and their languages, a cheese that squeaks, and a cinnamon bun whose name means a slap on the ear.

Book page titled Trees in disguise. An illustration of spruce trees so heavy with snow they look like figures, a short explanation with the Finnish word tykky, a line asking What does it look like?, and a small picture of a willow grouse sheltering under the snow.
First look Trees in disguise

Section 4 of 7

What's Happening Here?

The holiday itself. Where they are staying, to tick, draw or stick a photograph. Six hot drinks and six foods, each with a score out of ten and their verdict. The sauna, rated. Things to look for indoors and out.

And room for what they find that is not in the book.

Book page titled On the table: Tried it? Score it out of 10. Add a word or two. Six illustrated foods: rye bread, Karelian pie, cinnamon bun, squeaky cheese, sautéed reindeer and salmon soup, each with a tick box, a score box and a line for your verdict.
First look On the table

Section 5 of 7

My Thoughts About Lapland

What is the same as home, what is different, and what is just odd. A comic of the thing that went sideways. A page for being bored. Their own wishes. The best bit, the surprise, and the whole trip out of ten.

Book page titled The thing that went sideways: a lost thing, a muddle, a plan that went wrong. Tell it in pictures. Three empty comic panels, then Was it funny? with choices yes, no, not yet and it will be.
First look The thing that went sideways

Section 6 of 7

Answers

Puzzle answers, with explanations and worked examples. Where the facts came from. A short note for grown-ups.

Answers page titled Check, don't mark. Answers to the spot the difference, the riddles, who is staying where and the snow route, with short explanations and the route drawn on the grid.
First look Check, don't mark

Section 7 of 7

My Journal

Eight journal pages at the back, with lined and unlined space. The first one says "Do not read!" They belong to your child.

The book ends by asking where they would like to go next, and what they would take.

The first journal page, titled Do not read! These pages are yours. The rest of the page is ruled lines.
First look Do not read!

One reindeer, different ways to meet it

A reindeer turns up in the spotter, to find. It turns up in the guide, to understand. And it has a place on their own pages, if they met one.

To the Far North What a child can do with it