Mr. Waldorf Travels to the Huge Russia by By Barbara Terry, Beth Ann Stifflemire and Vladimir Kirichenko

As picture books for children go this offers more than just a pleasant reading experience.   This is the beginning of a series and said series provides information and education in a very entertaining and painless manner.   In addition, the oft used but still extremely effective act of, including a lost or hidden object turns the reading experience into a game, in this case Mr Waldorf's spectacles.

This specific book deals with a visit to Russia where Mr. Waldorf, a walking upright and talking Golden Labrador, discovers the sights and sounds of travel.  Russia provides abundant wildlife such as the sturgeon and Siberian Tiger.   The only other time I have heard of Irkutsk is the game of Risk.   Irkutsk is the closest city to the world's oldest and  deepest lake,  Lake Baikal.   The lake is over 400 miles long and has an astounding number of unique species inhabiting it.  All this information is due to the interest that the authors piqued with their picture book.  I see these books having a fairly wide age span as the older kids can be encouraged to Google the facts and find more in depth information.  Heck I did it and I am a really, really old kid.

Another feature that I particularly like is that the authors infuse the love of reading into Mr. Waldorf's character.  Encouraging children to read should be a goal of every author. 

I recommend the book.

Web: http://waldorfpublishing.com/category/childrens/

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.