When asked if I would like to host Rita Golden Gelman’s online book tour, I was honored to be a part of this Gutsy woman’s amazing life. She is all about connecting with people from around the world, and in her own words she says, “I opened my life to otherness; it becomes addictive. I still have no fixed address and hardly any possessions.”

I discovered her book, Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at large in the World, after returning from a year of adventures and personal growth in Belize, Central America. I can relate to what Gelman says about having hardly any possessions being addictive, as I experienced this with my own family in Belize. Having less gave me time, something I learned to value as more meaningful than having stuff. The time to connect with family and friends.

Gelman’s latest book: Female Nomad and Friends: Tales of Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World is a moving anthology of essays that celebrates traveling, connecting, and eating around the world. Also included are more than 30 travel-inspired, taste-tested and author-approved recipes.

Many of you are familiar with Karen van der Zee’s blog: Life in the Expat Lane. She has four amusing stories published in Female Nomad and Friends: Tales of Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World. One of her tales, “Wild for Worms,” starts off, “I had planned to eat worms tonight, but instead I’m facing a hamburger and fries. I am not amused.” Talk about a hook to get you reading. Another tale entitled, “Cow Feet Soup for Breakfast,” brought back memories of when my sons were so hungry one day, they ordered a bowl of cow foot soup on their way home from school in Belize. My sixteen-year-old said, “Mom, you should have seen the hoof. It was right there in the middle of the bowl covered in hair.”

In the opening chapter of her book: Female Nomad and Friends: Tales of Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World, Gelman explains that the profits and author royalties are going to a special fund to send high school graduates from the slums in New Dehli to vocational schools. Gelman says, “Most young people are taken out of school as they are old enough to contribute to the family income by working in construction for one or two dollars a day.” This reminds me of the young caretaker we had in Belize who told my teenage sons he quit school at thirteen, and worked in the sugar cane plantations to put food on the family table. My boys learned more from listening to this young Belizean, than any lecture I could give on how lucky they are to have an education.

After suggesting Rita Golden Gelman’s book to my book club circle of friends, they decided to select it for our next meeting. I hope you will read it too. Please share with others and remember to connect.

Female Nomad and Friends: Tales of Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World- From the author of the international bestseller, Tales of a Female Nomad, Female Nomad and Friends is a moving anthology of essays that celebrates traveling, connecting, and eating around the world. Also included are more than 30 travel-inspired, taste-tested and author-approved recipes.

Rita Golden Gelman is the author of Tales of a Female Nomad and more than seventy children’s books, including More Spaghetti, I Say!, a staple in every first grade classroom. As a nomad, Rita has no permanent address. She is currently involved in an initiative called Let’s Get Global, a project of US Servas, Inc, a national movement designed to bring the gap year to the United States. Learn more at www.letsgetglogal.org

 We invite you to join us on the Female Nomad and Friends virtual tour. The full schedule can be seen at http://bookpromotionservices.com/2010/05/17/female-nomad-tour. You can learn much more about Rita Golden Gelman and her work on her website –www.ritagoldengelman.com