Colleen Dunn Bates - Storybook Travels: From Eloises New York to Harry Potters London, Visits to 30 of the Best-Loved Landmarks in Childrens Literature

T his book is dedicated to (and wouldnt have been possible without) our patient and loving husbands, Darryl Bates and Dan Milder, and to the women who introduced us to both childrens literature and travel: our mothers, Ellie Dunn and Patricia Taylor.

We were lucky to have had many enthusiastic advisors as we researched this book, as well as invaluable assistance from family, friends, and tourism professionals.

First, thanks go to our fellow family traveler, Mitch Kaplan, for consulting on destinations and for his research and writing contributions. Thanks also to Jeff Book for sharing his research and Kathy Compagnon for sharing her Paris.

Thank you to the tourism media representatives in many of the storybook locations: Faye Bleigh and Susan Stark, Hannibal CVB ; Lorraine Geiger, Taos CVB ; Carol Horne, Tourism PEI ; Richard Griffith, Air Canada; Brigitta Kroon-Fiorita, Netherlands Board of Tourism; Daniel Haberli, Graubunden Vacations; Evelyn Mock, Swiss Tourism; Lindsa Okada, Swissair; Janis Flippen, Ventura CVB ; Helga Brenner-Kahn, German National Tourism Office; Michael Boyer, Hameln Marketing and Tourism; Vickie Ashford, Birmingham CVB ; Kas Maglaris, Rubenstein Associates (The Plaza Hotel); Allison Grand, the itsy-bitsy Entertainment Co.; and Laurie Armstrong, San Francisco CVB .

Thanks to our advisors at our favorite local bookstores: Lise Friedman at Duttons and Linda Urban at Vromans.

A heartfelt thank you to the childrens-book lovers and storybook-traveling families who gave us so many ideas and so much enthusiasm and support. They include Melinda Grubbauer, Anne Schiller, Barbara McKinzie-Slater, Jennifer, Jim, and Todd Barry, Michelle, Jim, Garret, and Nora Lang, (Colleens) uncle Frank Purcell, Mark Shepard, and Juliet Blake.

And thanks are due to Susan Dietz, our friend, cheerleader, and producer; to Sally Pfeiffer, our website designer; to Betsy Amster, our agent; to Barbara Sturman, the books designer; and to Carrie Thornton and Becky Cabaza, our editors. Thanks also to Robert Landau for the photographs and to Jill Ganon for the proposal editing and inspiration.

Thanks, above all, to our families: Dan, Patricia, and Irene Milder and Darryl, Erin, and Emily Bates, who made our storybook travels a joy.

Finally, we honor the memory of Lynn Angell, friend, advisor, and childrens librarian, who once made her husband, Dave, drive 600 miles out of their way so she could see Pas fiddle at Laura Ingalls Wilders house.