Ever feel like you want to get as far away from your life as possible? Maybe smelly Uncle Harry is visiting your family again — and he’s taken over your bedroom? (Yech!) Or maybe your little brother has just announced your silly for-Grandma’s-ears-only nickname to the whole school? (Gasp!) Or maybe it’s just another Monday morning… (We hear ya!)

Well, we’ve got just the ticket for your troubles — as in books that act as tickets for foreign travels! So the next time you wish you were anywhere but here, pick up one of these books set in other countries (in no particular order):

1. Secret Letters from 0 to 10 by Susie Morgenstern (France) (Karen’s pick)
2. Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples (Pakistan) (Nancy’s pick)
3. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (Denmark)
4. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr (Japan)
5. I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino (Spain)
6. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (Italy)
7. Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan (India)
8. Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman (England)
9. Thunder Cave by Roland Smith (Kenya)
10. Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir Of The Cultural Revolution by Ji-Li Jiang (China)
11. The Corn Grows Ripe by Dorothy Rhoads (Ancient Mexico)
12. The 39 Clues series by various authors (various countries, including Japan, France, Italy, and Russia)

If you’ve read any of these, send in your book review. Or send in a review of your favorite book set in a foreign country!

UPDATE 11/17/09: We revealed the answer to our Foreign Lands Mystery Book Theater in our “Leaving on a Jet Plane” Podcast, so take a listen if you want to know the answer.