To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story / words by Casey Scieszka; art by Steven Weinberg

"This is me, Casey. This is Steven. We're both from the United States, but absurdly enough we met here, in Morocco."

So it was with the author and illustrator of this cartoon travelogue who parlayed their summer vacation abroad into a globetrotting tour of nine countries, an engagement and a cool little book. Introduced in their junior year of college in an Arabic speaking course, Casey and Steven discovered that their passion was traveling was mutual and, after finishing college a year later, they set off on a multi-year excursion teaching English in China and Southeast Asia. Following that they lived for a year in Mali where Casey studied the role of Islam in education on a Fulbright scholarship and Steven taught English to the local villagers. All the while they kept journaling--Casey the writer, Steven the cartoonist--escapades, narrating their mostly engaging adventures with snappy, upbeat optimism. Representing the kind of wanderlust so many young Americans have, the book is a good armchair travel read for teens and young people wishing to see the world and expand their boundaries. (910.4092273 SCIESZKA)