You asked: Any advice for traveling with young kids to Washington, D.C.?

Last March, when we took our kids to Washington, D.C., we found a book in our suite at the Four Seasons that helped bring the history of the city to life for our kids. I really can’t recommend A Kid’s Guide to Washington, D.C. ($12.00; Gulliver Books/Harcourt Brace) more highly for your trip. It begins with short overviews of the city, of American history and of modern government. None of these entries is too long, and all are written to enthrall a young audience. How do you make the Pentagon interesting to a five-year-old? By describing it as having 17.5 miles of hallways, 280 bathrooms and 150 staircases. Almost every page has fun facts, such as that George Washington is the only president who never lived in the White House, which was finished the year after he died. Games and quizzes are sprinkled throughout, so even fidgeting toddlers pay attention to the names and dates. Our Capitol tour became a scavenger hunt because we were determined to find the blood-stained stairs where a congressman was shot by a reporter in 1890 and the spot in the House Chambers where John Quincy Adams had his desk so he could hear the mysterious echo of discussions on the other side of the room. We had reserved a tour of the Capitol through a congressman’s office and organized a one of the White House through a friend who works for the State Department, both of which were great. But thanks to this paperback book, Ford’s Theater and the memorials, which we visited without guides, were equally fascinating. This kind of attention to detail is what sets the Four Seasons apart.