Elementary school-aged Vendela and her father travel from their Stockholm home for a week in Venice. They’ve done some careful planning about what they want to visit and see, but they’re also open to new possibilities. Their highly visual fictional trip is part story and part travelogue. Accompanying Vendela’s lively dialogue-filled lively first person narrative are full-color illustrations of them riding in a vaporetto, noticing recurring images of lions, going to St. Mark’s Square, visiting the glassblowers’ island of Murano and - finally - seeing the famous horses. Other types of visual information includes reproductions of maps, building cross-sections, reproductions of works of art, and images of posters and tickets. The guidebook- style advice at the end is hardly needed because fictional Vendela and her father offer lots of ideas for actual travel or an armchair trip while reading this unusual book. (Ages 7-10)

Vendela has long been fascinated by Venice, where the streets are canals, the cars are boats, and the houses are palaces. Finally her father takes her on a special spring trip to the city, which turns out to be every bit as fairy-tale-like as he has promised. Vendela visits her special friends, the four golden horses in St. Mark's Basilica. She hunts winged lions, meets a terrible dragon, and explores colorful candy stores and samples almond-syrup milk.
But there are more floods in Venice every year. Will it still be there when Vendela grows up? As did Linnea in Monet's Garden, Vendela in Venice offers a wonderful introduction to the excitement of travel, art, and culture. Inga-Karin Eriksson's lovingly detailed illustrations of Venice will fire the imaginations of young readers and their parents whether they read the book at home or take it along on a trip to Italy.