Chapter I: Preface

When I began to write these stories about children of all lands I had just returned from Europe whither I journeyed with Marie and Ref. Maybe you don't know Marie and Ref. I'll introduce them: Please meet Marie, my very little daughter, and Ref, my very big reflex camera.

These two are my helpers. Marie helps by being a little girl who knows what other little girls like and by telling me; and Ref helps by snapping pictures of everything interesting that Marie and I see on our travels. I couldn't get along without them.

Several years have gone by since we started our work together and Marie is a bigger girl--but Ref hasn't changed one bit. Ref hasn't changed any more than my interest in writing these books for you. And I hope that _you_ hope that I'll never change, because I want to keep on writing until we'll have no more countries to write about--unless, of course, some one discovers a new country.

Even if a new country isn't discovered, we'll find foreign children to talk about--maybe the children in Mars! Who knows? Nobody. Not even Marie--and Marie usually knows about most things. That's the reason why, you see, though I sign myself

[Signature: Madeline Brandeis]

I am really only
Marie's Mother.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Chapter I

Tony and Tina 13

Chapter II

Tony and the Balilla 29

Chapter III

Niki 42

Chapter IV

Rome 59

Chapter V

Tony and Anna 72

Chapter VI

Cities, Animals, and Discipline 86

Chapter VII

Statues, Music, and Cheese 111

Chapter VIII

Danger! 120

Chapter IX

The Buried City 128

Chapter X

Fever, Fear, and Troubled Sleep 139