$19.95 + $4 s&h	$19.95 + $4 s&h	$10.95 + $4 s&h	$10.95 + $4 s&h

Some of you may recognize Exploring Montreal with Kids (2007) as being the "descendant" of the best-selling Lobster Kids' Guide to Exploring Montreal, which I wrote and that was last published in 2000. Now, several years later, here is an updated version of my guidebook with a new publisher, Price-Patterson. Ditto for Découvrir Montréal avec les enfants (2007) which is the “descendant” of the best-selling Guide le Petit Fouineur, also last published in 2000. The original manuscript for all of these books was born out of necessity in the late 1990s as neither my wife nor I had any adult relatives in town with whom we could "park" our three kids on weekends. We thus had to find fun, local places to go with them and I kept notes about each. Friends soon began asking for my notes and these eventually evolved into a manuscript and finally a guidebook. This is your copy of the most updated version. The kids’ books are designed for parents, grandparents or other relatives, educators and homeschoolers. Everyone who wonders what to do with kids aged 1-12 this weekend should find inspiration and answers within these pages. The sites described are generally within a one-hour drive of downtown Montreal, ranging from Drummondville to eastern Ontario and Mt Tremblant to northern Vermont. Directions by public transportation and by bicycle are also often listed, where applicable. Future postings on this website will address fun places for adolescents around Montreal. The present versions of these two kids’ guidebooks were put together in 2006 and 2007. They contain descriptions of a number of new sites not found in the earlier versions, most notably The Montreal Science Centre, The Montréal Children's Museum, Parc Omega, and Parc de la Rivière de Mille Iles. Listings—where site names and telephones are indicated without a full description—have also been expanded to include: The Old Port Ghost Hunt, Upper Canada Village, Labyrinth Shed 16, Ferme L'Auteuilloise and more. This version also reflects many recent name changes around the Montreal metropolitan area. Also listed here is another guidebook, Exploring Montreal with Bikes (2007). My credentials for writing such a book include completing a 150km Velo Quebec trip with three young children and writing for Pedal as that magazine Quebec’s correspondent. And I was honoured to have the collaboration of Robert (Bicycle Bob) Silverman—a leading bicycle advocate—on this work. This book goes beyond where many traditional bicycling books leave off and discusses bike tours you can do without necessarily having to put your bike in the car trunk and driving to the starting point of the tour. The book further explains many aspects of life without an automobile (something Robert has lived for decades but I only aspire to). Among the themes discussed are trajectories for crossing rivers and autoroutes (highways) around Montreal Island; how to take your bike on the metro (subway); how to take your bike on a VIA train; how to take your bike on an airplane, how to ride through a Montreal winter, and good family bike rides near downtown. The fourth book displayed here is The Lobster Kids’ Guide to Exploring Ottawa-Hull which I published through Lobster Press in 1999. Because the information about programming and pricing is now somewhat out of date, the book price has been substantially discounted. It nonetheless remains a good source of ideas for outings in Canada’s national capital region and it remains the most recent book on that particular subject. Caves, hay rides, zoos, ski hills, bike paths, museums, and a dinosaur park within about a one hour drive are all described this book. Feel free to look for information or ideas on this website. I also invite you to visit Montreal pour enfants where many of my articles about local travel with kids are posted (in French). Many of my articles on bicycling (in English) can be found at Pedal Mag, including my article describing a 150km ride with young kids. The four books displayed here can be purchased online using PayPal and shipped anywhere on the planet. However, for customers in the Montreal/ Ottawa/ Burlington VT area, it is probably to your advantage to visit local book stores to purchase these titles as you will save on the shipping costs. For more distant customers, it is my pleasure to serve you but mention that these books are also available through Chapters.Indigo.ca and Amazon.com . Also available on this website are some recent news stories about local kids’ attractions, updates about the attractions contained in these books, new sites not yet listed in print, reviews of pertinent books, and hopefully soon there will be a listing of sponsors. Also please note that you can communicate with me and I would love to hear your suggestions, compliments, complaints, or other comments. Through such communications these books and this website can evolve to better meet your needs. JS May 2009