Before Stitch Fix, before Barkbox, before Hello Fresh, before Little Passports there was American Geographical Society‘s Around the World Program, a monthly subscription box for kids that included a booklet, a map, stickers and a trinket from countries all over the world.

It was expensive — so much so that my mom let me get it for only a year or so, but I vividly remember many of the trinkets. I didn’t really read about the countries and probably didn’t use the stickers in the booklet.

The two trinkets I remember most were from India and Ecuador (I think). The gift from India was a tiny seed pod filled with carved ivory elephants. The seed pod had an ivory colored (could have been carved ivory too) stopper. The gift from Ecuador was a handheld drum with beads on strings so one could twist the stick and make noises with the drum.

I don’t remember what Puerto Rico had to offer though.

I’m actually keeping this for a while since we’re planning a trip to Puerto Rico sometime in the not-so-distant future. Plus, I read a couple of fiction books by Camille Pagán that took place mostly in Puerto Rico. This little booklet mentions a few things that Pagán wrote about, including Phosphorescent Bay on Vieques Island.