Mission Washington, D.C.: A Scavenger Hunt Adventure (For Kids): A Scavenger Hunt Adventure: (Travel Book For Kids) Paperback – 3 Oct. 2014

The author has hit on a clever travel book format that turns a valuable educational opportunity into a really fun game. Do your children have what it takes to become special agents? Find out by accepting a series of assignments and gathering important Intel (spy-speak for information) under the supervision of their case officer (a parent or trusted adult).The ‘assignments’ are presented just like they are in spy movies: aerial photos of key locations, close-ups, and clues that lead to key pieces of ‘Intel’ on each one. Each assignment is like a scavenger hunt (“only better”). Intel gathered has to be brought back to the case officer for verification before the point/s for finding it can be awarded. Once the requisite number has been reached (it’s a challenging total), there’s a Mission Control website that will issue a certificate of success. What a brilliant idea for getting children really engaged in what might otherwise seem to them a lot of trudging around looking at buildings and statues!There are a few important rules, like the case officer has the final say on which assignments will be attempted! That’s to help parents deal with an eager bright child whose hunger for points has turned “Do we have to?” into “I want to complete every single assignment.” While reading the book I was caught up in the spirit of the thing and imagined myself again the child I was: eager to play a good game and go chasing off to discover all the fascinating things that make up the bedrock history and culture of Washington DC.The wonderful thing about this digital age is that the book can be downloaded on to the e-reading devices of all personnel involved: so that all agents can be following the clues simultaneously and haring back to their case officer to collect the points, having used either the pre-digital method (notepad and pencil) or by tapping/swiping the Intel via the note-taking facility on their phones or whatever device they have.CONCLUSION: any bright child of any age (10-110?) visiting Washington DC should have this vital set of assignments concealed on a device somewhere about their person. Terrific fun for all (and you’ll learn a lot).

As even an amateur reviewer with a passion for writing, I completely understand that I am completely outside of the target audience for this kindlebook of Mission Washington DC; A Scavenger Hunt Adventure (Travel Book For Kids) by Catherine Aragon yet I am aware of people in my life with kids who might enjoy this kindlebook. More or less, my husband and I enjoy living in the Washington D.C. area and I was curious to see some of the Washington D.C. area landmarks in this kindlebook that included among the following; photo of the Capital building, reference to military unmanned aerial vehicles in the Air & Space Museum,picture of William Shakespeare from the National Archives, image from the Museum of American History,picture of Dorothy’s Ruby Red Slippers From the Wizard of Oz,picture of Michelle Obama’s 2009 Inaugural Gown, and more. There is also a creative fiction reference to the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) with the reference of the SIA.

Ms. Catherine Aragon has taken what normally would have been a boring experience for children just running from one visitor site to another in Washington, D.C. into an engaging fun educational experience. Using the idea that children love going on scavenger hunts in the backyard, in a park or anyplace else.In this book its readers become Special Agents who have been assigned the task of finding the items listed and observing what they see in order to answer the specific questions being asked. In order to assist them need to follow the instructions being given to them by their case officers [their parents] and go to accompany their case officers wherever they decide will be the next location to complete their assigned task; even though the book has already listed all the sites they’d eventually need to go.This book gives the basic important information anyone needs to know about each of the sites being visited, that adults visiting Washington, D.C. alone could actually use this as an educational guidebook for themselves.For educating all of its readers, both the adults and children, regarding the location for the United States government, and helping them to hit all of the important tourist sites; I’ve given Ms. Aragon 5 STARS.I’ve read this book via a KINDLE Unlimited download.NOTE: Reading this book via the KINDLE edition will require a small pocket notebook to track of the points being received for the successful completion of each assigned task.

The book is an intelligent and fun way to learn American history and is a must if you are visiting Washington with children. There's a great mix of photos and educational information. By engaging them to become special agents is a brilliant way of making a visit to DC not only memorable but fun. Terrific for all the family, I can't recommend it highly enough."

This is the second book I’ve read in this series. And just comparing the two side by side, the first thing that pops out at me is the consistency in quality from one to the other. The author applies the same meticulous attention to detail, layout, and design of her visually laden pages, and to the crafting of the prose. Assuming she does this throughout the series of books (still too early to tell, having just read two), this is a “if you loved one, you’ll love them all” kind of thing.Parents looking to occupy their kids on vacation will find these books a boon. More to the point, they excel at cramming a ton of education into a vacation trip without making any of it seem like anything but a ton of fun. So you will not have to fret for what to occupy them, or what activities to find that you might both enjoy as parents and child alike.Being something of a history buff myself, and feeling a bit travel-starved (I don’t get to jet set nearly as much as I’d like too—like try, never), I find these books are surprisingly educational and a nice mini-vacation for me as an armchair traveler, as well. And they offer plenty of incentive to take a bus ride or a train where possible to get to D.C. if Jet Blue or some form of discount travel isn’t available.If you’re leaving the country with one or more young kids in tow, I’d definitely recommend packing this title (especially as, in e-book form or nestled into your cell phone, it takes virtually no room). Though possibly load it on your kids’ phones as well if you expect to hold on to yours! Or any of their free-kindle-app empowered appliances.

These books added so much fun to our trip to D.C. I know my kids and with the amount of walking required I knew they needed something simple to keep them wanting more. These books weee the perfect addition. They fit into any bag we had, not too big, but plenty of space to write. The tasks were interesting and I like how they weren’t all right there. You had to really look for some. I loved the notes section on each page. My kids enjoyed writing fun things they saw or found interesting. It’s a great souvenir to have. We found it easy to get the 100pts to become an agent, my kids surpassed it by a lot and were so excited. We were in D.C. April 2023 and everything we came across was current in the book. I hope they have them for future trips to future locations! Would recommend and will buy again!

My 5th grader LOVED having this on our trip to DC. The “agent” theme was fun for him. The challenges kept him engaged and made him excited for all of our outings. The facts in the book are fun and interesting, and we adults learned some things from the book too. 100% recommend!

My 5 and 6-year olds loved this book. It made touring DC really fun and interesting for them. While they are still learning to read, the books were filled with enough photos to keep them engaged. My only critical comment/request would be to add answers to the questions somewhere in the book. I also think some of the clues etc could've been slightly more relevant to the site but that could just be a function of my age group. Lots for a parent to build on from the book - secret agent badges, etc. Thanks!

What a great and fun little book for our trip to DC. It’ll get the kids engaged and keep them interested and getting it early is helping me plan a little. We live near NYC, ordering that one too for day trips!