Some wise man said: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” He was so right, there are so many places to see, so much to discover and learn, just as there are so many pages waiting with their wisdom for us to read and enjoy.

The book Selena and Lara Travel the World, Lapland, Finland, by Sadia Khan, is a children’s book which takes us to the far off land of Santa Clause in Finland and as we turn the pages, we learn more about this icy land of the Northern Lights, reindeers, huskies and saunas. While much of it is frozen in winter, summer gives a chance to explore Finland’s peculiar beauty despite very short daylight hours.

This is a travelogue, containing a wealth of information about Finland in easy language and illustrated creatively to make for suitable reading for children under 10, but older ones and adults will also enjoy it for the information it imparts about a country not often visited by people from our side of the world.

Selena and Lara are two sisters who go on a visit to Lapland with their mother and they are as eager to learn about the people, places, history, culture and language of the place as they are to see the Northern Lights and Santa’s village.

The narration by Sadia Khan is so interesting that you can actually feel the excitement of the girls, whose journey to a land with countless lakes is full of thrilling discoveries and wonder at the strange world they encounter with just four hours of daytime visibility between 10am to 2pm!

With a lot of information squeezed in such few pages, this storybook should arouse the reader’s interest in a new land and its people. Sadia Khan is definitely a writer who knows what it takes to connect with young readers and looking forward to more such interesting reads from her.

Published in Dawn, Young World, June 2nd, 2018