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Date: 12/26/2023
MONSON — Nonprofit Travelnitch recently released a compilation book of travel stories written by older children to share their experiences and inspiration with younger children.
Titled “Bedtime Stories for Young Explorers: Volume 1,” the book is a product of Travelnitch’s travel Bedtime Stories podcast, which features true and fictional travel stories, according to the organization.
To create the book, members of the nonprofit solicited stories from students through its “Big Writers, Little Ears” program as well as other children’s submitted stories and placed them in an accessible format for young children. In addition to the physical book, the stories were initially used to create the podcast series, founder and CEO Amanda Renna said.
“Students don’t have a lot of opportunity for real world experience,” Renna said, stating that the book was designed to help young children “see creativity come to life on paper.”
While the nonprofit had been looking to publish a book to accompany to the podcast, it only became possible in January after the organization was awarded a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Renna stated.
She explained that volume one contains 10 stories, with half written by students in grades 7-12 and the other half by college students. However, the nonprofit has plans to create and release a second volume, which Renna hopes will contain more stories from younger writers.
Not only is the book student-written but also student-illustrated, Renna stated. Every story in the fully illustrated book includes an image by students in kindergarten to 12th grade. Both the writers and artists are from across the country.
In addition to the podcasts, Travelnitch also offers children and families a variety of other programs, such as grants to encourage travel and free webinars to learn travel writing.
“I’m a mom. This started out as a passion project,” Renna explained when asked about the origin of Travelnitch. “I’m an avid traveler.”
She described how she originally began Travelnitch in 2018 as a way to provide travel resources to her own children. However, after speaking with other moms, Renna decided to expand her project into a private publishing company, then into a nonprofit in 2020 in order to share resources with more children, she said.
“Bedtime Stories for Young Explorers: Volume 1” is available to purchase for $35 on Amazon and Bookshop.
The nonprofit’s podcasts are available on its website at travelnitch.org as well as at Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. More information about Travelnitch’s programs can also be found on its website.