Maria Youngkin Presents
The Sea Goes All the Way to Poland
Written by Maria Sahad-Youngkin
Illustrated by Devon Meyer
When a father and daughter journey back to their roots, discovery unfolds at every turn. Decades after he left, the father returns to his homeland—this time with his daughter by his side. Together they cross Poland from the seaside to the capital, tracing family stories and the country’s remarkable history. Along the way she claims her heritage, finds new courage, and sees how the past can light the path ahead. An unforgettable adventure of place, memory, and becoming.
When a father and daughter travel back to their roots, magic and growth is in store. Thirty years later, the father returns to his homeland, but this time accompanied by his daughter. Follow their journey to the country of Poland where she discovers her culture, her country’s history along the way. From the sea side to the capital city, there’s so much to learn and experience. An unforgettable adventure awaits that is sure to transform her.
About the Book
The Sea Goes All the way to Poland
A daughter’s first journey to her father’s homeland—38 years after he left. From Gdańsk’s Baltic shores to Kraków’s Wawel Castle, Toruń’s Copernicus, and Warsaw’s “Phoenix City,” this luminous travel memoir explores history, identity, and the miracle of belonging.
About the Author
Maria Youngkin
Maria Youngkin lives in Phoenix, Arizona, where she teaches and shares stories with her students. A traveler and lifelong learner, she delights in exploring new places and their cultures, and bringing that curiosity back to the classroom and the page.
Illustrations are created by a Sonoran Desert–based artist and instructor who draws on nature and teaches both children and adults. Together, words and images invite readers to see Poland—and themselves—with fresh eyes.
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Reviews
Here’s Why Our Readers Love Us
The Sea Goes All the Way to Poland” is a tender, quietly electric memoir that braids personal history with a nation’s rebirth. Youngkin writes with classroom clarity and traveler’s wonder.
Jennifer Lee
A luminous, clear-eyed memoir of return. This book moves like a pilgrimage, carrying us from the briny winds of Gdańsk to the glow of Kraków’s Wawel and the resilient avenues of Warsaw. What we inherit isn’t just blood, but roads” is the line I’ll keep. Quietly powerful, generously human, and beautifully told.
David Max
The father–daughter dynamic is rendered with tenderness and restraint; nothing is forced, everything earned. The prose is lean and vivid, the insights portable. I finished with a stack of dog-eared pages and a sharper sense of how place shapes identity. “If you believe in miracles, anything is possible,” the book suggests and then proceeds to prove it.
Sophia Kevin