Walking to Woot: A Photographic Narrative Discovering New Dimensions for Parent-Teen Bonding by Jackie Chase is a travel memoir of the best sort. Ms. Chase and her young teenage daughter Katherine journey into the jungles of Indonesia’s New Guinea island. Together they face down biting ants, brown drinking water, terrifying snakes, and floods of mosquitoes. Their explorations lead them to several native villages where they witness and even take part in various aspects of tribal life. Meanwhile, they are getting to know themselves and each other much more intimately.
This book is so appealing in part because it indudes the reader. Not only are the experiences vividly described, but the author is open about her thoughts and feelings throughout. She asks meaningful questions, ostensibly to herself or Katherine, but in reality, the author is also asking the reader. For example, in chapter 3, the author asks, “Had a few Dani, half-naked and with pork bones pierced through their nostrils, walked into a neighborhood barbecue in our country, would we receive them with open arms?”