Bernick, Elisa

PERSONAL:

Married; husband's name Michael; children: two. Education: Attended college in Madison, WI.

ADDRESSES:

Home—St. Paul, MN. E-mail—elisa@familysabbatical.com.

CAREER:

Has worked as a broadcast journalist for National Public Radio (NPR), Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), WCCO-TV, and Twin Cities Public Television; taught creative writing and broadcast journalism at Syracuse University, the University of Minnesota, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

WRITINGS:

The Family Sabbatical Handbook: The Budget Guide to Living Abroad with Your Family, Intrepid Traveler (Branford, CT), 2007.

Contributor to periodicals, including Transitions Abroad, Parents' Magazine, and Minnesota Parent.

SIDELIGHTS:

Elisa Bernick has followed multiple career paths during her adult life. As a freelance writer and broadcast journalist, she worked for twenty-five years as a reporter and producer of radio news for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service, as well as for other broadcast and cable networks. As an author, her articles on travel and parenting have appeared in Parents' Magazine, Minnesota Parent, and Transitions Abroad. She has taught creative writing and broadcast journalism at Syracuse University, the University of Minnesota, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Curious about the world from a young age, Bernick began her travels when she was seventeen, leaving her home in Minnesota to explore the world. When she returned to attend college in Wisconsin, she had garnered many stories about her adventures. According to Bob Mervine on the Intrepid Traveler Web site, Bernick had "worked with fire-eaters in Paris, inoculated turkeys on a kibbutz in Israel, fed truckers on a boat to Greece, … and sold camping supplies in Edinburgh."

During her college years she met her husband, who is also an enthusiastic traveler. They had two children and decided, while the children were still young, that they wanted to live in Mexico for a while. They saved money for their adventure for three years, then quit their jobs and fulfilled their mutual dream by moving to Mexico. They sent the children to a Mexican school and worked on their individual writing projects. Their sojourn lasted for eighteen months and produced another cache of stories and experiences.

The Family Sabbatical Handbook: The Budget Guide to Living Abroad with Your Family is Bernick's account of the family's adventure in Mexico. She writes about her daily life as a foreigner in a foreign country and describes her feelings and experiences, along with the complicated dynamics of this life when it includes a husband and two small children. Bernick also relates stories of other families living abroad, provides advice on important issues such as healthcare, schooling, finances, and planning for the experience, and includes an annotated list of resources. A reviewer for Reference & Research Book News commented that Bernick's advice is especially useful in that it shows the reader "how to get through the rough spots."

Critics liked not only the content of The Family Sabbatical Handbook, but also the breadth of details included and Bernick's personal style. In her review for Library Journal, Louise Feldmann wrote that "Bernick's writing style makes readers feel that they're getting advice from a good friend."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, April 1, 2007, Louise Feldmann, review of The Family Sabbatical Handbook: The Budget Guide to Living Abroad with Your Family, p. 106.

Reference & Research Book News, November, 2007, review of The Family Sabbatical Handbook.

ONLINE

Family Sabbatical Handbook Web site,http://www.familysabbatical.com (April 8, 2008).

Intrepid Traveler Online,http://www.intrepidtraveler.com/ (April 11, 2008), Bob Mervine, "About Our Author: Elisa Bernick."

Transitions Abroad,http://www.transitionsabroad.com/ (April 8, 2008), Elisa Bernick, "Traveling with Children—The Why's and How-To's."