
"I liked the yellow in China--the royal color..." I began.
"Only the royalty could wear it, unless you were over 80," Josh interrupted with excitement. "I loved that!"
Christina, Josh, Jimmy, and I continued to discuss this book that we were all ready for our geography co-op. We each had to chose a fiction book each month to read that would help geography come alive. What a great choice we all had made!
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne is an amazing book with a great story line and enough twists and turns to keep us interested.

He takes his brand new valet, Passeportout, a Frenchman, who has an exciting past as an acrobat, delights in the entire trip. He is wide-eyed soaking in the sights, sounds, and people of every place they visit.
The trip around the world begins with the two men leaving London by train early in the morning on October 2, 1872. Their trip takes them across the Suez Canal to Egypt where the third main character enters the story. Fix is a detective who is chasing a bank robber who resembles Fogg. Fix is waiting for official papers so he can arrest Fogg. These papers keep missing Fix, so the detective must follow Fogg and Passeportout around the world.
From Egypt, the three men sail across the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea on a steamer to Bombay, India. Then it is across India on a train until the tracks run out. From there, it's travel on an elephant. Yes, that's right--an elephant! On the elephant trip, they encounter a barbaric ancient ritual where a young wife is being thrown into the grave with her dead husband's body. She is rescued by Fogg and Passeportout. The lovely English-educated Indian lady is named Aouda and she joins the trip around the world. She is treated like a lovely princess throughout the rest of the trip, though she does help defend the train across America when Indians attack.
The rest of the trip is one adventure after another. They cross bays, seas, and oceans, along with the continent of North America. It is exciting to visit Japan, China, San Francisco, New York City, and Liverpool with Fogg, Aouda, Passeportout, and Fixx.
I encourage you to read this book. If you are studying geography, then get out a world map and trace the trip around the world in 80 days.
Happy Reading!
Merey (Meredith Ludwig Curtis)