The Secret of the Snallygaster: Washington, DC, USA (Cities of Adventure)

'It is my hope that finding this letter will help you to believe in the existence of magic, for the creature you seek to free is genuinely magical. Alas, his us not a magic you will understand, for science has explained only a tiny fraction of the world we live in. And what we don't know is infinitely more than what we do.'–Rishi Piparaiya, 'The Secret of the Snallygaster'The Lander family loves adventure, and it is evident from the very first page of the book. Dr Phineas Lander is a scientist who often travels the world with his family for work. This time around they visit Washington DC, where Tara and Neil Lander, 12- and 10-year-old siblings, respectively, have an incredible adventure. Upon finding a hidden letter near their great uncle’s grave, they embark on a journey where they must visit several historical places, find more letters and clues, solve some interesting riddles, all in order to save a mysterious creature – the Snallygaster –bound in magic.‘The Secret of the Snallygaster’ is part of the ‘Cities of Adventure’ series by the author. Each book in the series is set in a different city around the world. This book is as much an adventure story as a travelogue. Abound with trivia about the various places and monuments in DC, the book presents the American history in an intriguing manner for the young readers. In fact, one of the things that I loved about the story was how seamlessly the facts were woven with the fiction. The book is interspersed with illustrations, and also has special pages dedicated to American history. The story has a hint of magic and appropriate amount of mystery too. It does not overdo anything.If I must point out a few shortcomings, it would be first, an error which rendered a part of the previous chapter to be printed at the beginning of the next, and a handful of missing punctuations which always tend to annoy me whenever it catches my eye. Secondly, the book is priced quite high for a less-than-200-pages paperback. And finally, you know how certain children’s books are timeless and can be enjoyed by people of all ages? I would say this one is solely meant for children between 8 to 12 years of age. Although, this latter is hardly a shortcoming!Recommended to children who are inquisitive; those who love to know about history of a place and adore animals.

Do you love to travel? Do you love adventures? How about a book that combines both?The Secret of the Snallygaster combines travel and adventure for children. The book, which is part of the city of adventures series, is set in Washington D.C.When Mr Phineas Lander has an address to deliver at The Smithsonian Museum, he takes his family along to Washington D.C. Amy Lander, the mom, is a successful chef who loves exploring local flavours. Tara, Neil and their adorable pet Sumo are the partners in crime. Together they unravel clues and solve puzzles to save the life of a magical creature called Snallygaster.Set like a treasure hunt with a series of clues to find, the book keeps us guessing and takes us through from one tourist spot to another in a seamless fashion. From Arlington National Cemetery, the adventure starts and finishes at The Capitol. Throughout the book, we visit various places such as the National Museum of American History, Museum of Natural History, National Mall, National Zoo etc.I thoroughly enjoyed the book and the riddles were very interesting to solve. I love the book is the travel tips section that is available at the end of the book, listing our various places to visit and things to do and it feels like a mini tourist guide for children. I cannot wait to explore more cities in this series with my daughter.P.S. I did some Google search and found that Snallygaster is a bird-reptile mythical creature that is believed to have been sighted across Washington, Central Maryland etc.It is amazing to know that the author visited these places and took notes to develop each story. Kudos to the author for starting this travel and adventure series for kids.

Disclaimer: A straight from the heart review from the author’s wife.When Rishi first brought up a vague idea of travelling the world for a proposed series of children’s books, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. But knowing him, I was sure he had probably thought 20 steps ahead and then some. So, I was happy to go along with whatever he had in mind. And that’s how in 2019 we travelled 75,000 kms across 55 global cities, all in a continuous five month stretch. When we added up at the end of the trip, it was over 1.7 million steps! We managed to fill many books of notes and took thousands of photographs for his research, walked endlessly tracing the storylines of his planned books, and enjoyed every bit of that adventure. And today I am super happy to share that his first three children’s travel books are out and available on Amazon globally.Personally for me it’s been a phenomenal journey watching him bring together a global team from across the world to make these travel guides a reality. There’s a lot of thought, effort and eye for detail that has gone into each one them. These books were also tested by many children and the response has been awesome - we have loved receiving voice notes and reviews for “Rishi Uncle” from little kids who read these books and then shared it with their friends who loved them as well.So, if you have kids in age group of 8-12 I am sure they will love them - they are packed with knowledge but are also fun, and action oriented. And to be honest, I really loved reading these books too, so if you’re into travel, age is no bar. 🙂.

Loved the title, first of all. I never heard of a snallygaster before this and the word just tickled me. The illustrations are delightful, though I wish there'd been a close-up of the snally. I'm not a kid but I learned a lot from this book and it made me want to visit Washington.A couple of things I don't like. The parents give the kids information in a pedantic way, and it doesn't seem natural. Also, it seems there's a lot of info at the end but it was just too small to read in a Kindle. It would probably be good in print, but I suspect it was in pdf format and my Kindle wouldn't enlarge it.