London with Kids, 1st Ed. (Open Road Travel Guides) (ISBN 1593600372)

Useful with good ideas:
I used this book to help plan a recent family trip to London. It was very useful and gave some great ideas about things to do with kids of various ages. I've been to London a few times before, but never with children, so I wanted a book that would give us ideas on kid friendly activities. This was great in that regard. I gave it four stars and not five because there were no pictures or maps, which would have been nice. I basically used this as a supplement to my Eyewitness London Guide (which was fantastic). I wound up having to carry two books though when I would have preferred to only carry one. If you use this as a supplement it's great, but don't expect this to be your only book for getting around London.

no excuse for a guidebook without maps:
One of the most important things when traveling with children is to be able to guage how far apart things are, and how much walking is involved. To do that, you need either very descriptive, detailed text or a good map. This book lacks either one of those things. It clusters attractions by area, but even a limited area can mean a lot of walking - tiring and frustrating when your travel companion is 6 years old. This book's "hotel section" was a very unfunny joke, and listed very, very few options - while London has many to offer families in differing types of lodging. It would also be helpful to have the restaurant info in the geographical section where it is found - so that you can pick out a lunch spot as you're selecting your sightseeing options. In a child specific guide, I'd expect some info on local laws or customs concerning children. For example, what are the car seat laws in England? What are the laws concerning children in pubs, or restaurants with full bars? How about a bit more info on food and drink, especially what's popular for kids? Tips for finding grocery stores with selections of diapers or formula? (if you'd ever spent 3 hours trying to find the right size diapers in a foreign country, you'd know exactly how crucial THAT info is). The writer offers interesting descriptions for sightseeing, but there is so much more to traveling with a kid, especially a very young one. How about a list of reliable, vetted babysitting agencies?