Young Adventurer's Guide to (Almost) Everything - Build a Fort, Camp Like a Champ, Poop in the Woods-45 Action-Packed Outdoor Activities

by Ben Hewitt, Luke Boushee (Illustrator)

45 step-by-step, illustrated activties that teach kids everything from how to see like an owl to build the world's coolest fort from sticks. (ages 8-12)

Calling all adventurers! Want to know how to build a fort from nothing but sticks? Or find your way through the forest? This survival guide is your ticket to getting down and dirty in nature and learning to make the coolest things with your own two hands.

Look inside to learn how to:


• Use a knife without bleeding
• Sleep in the woods without freezing
• Escape a bear without getting eaten
• Poop in the woods without falling down
• Find your way home without a GPS
• Eat bugs without throwing up
• And so much more!

Genres: Nonfiction, Childrens, Survival, Outdoors

209 pages, Hardcover

Published April 16, 2019

About the author

Ben Hewitt writes and farms in Northern Vermont. His work has appeared in numerous national periodicals, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Gourmet, Discover, Skiing, Eating Well, Powder, Men's Journal, National Geographic Adventure, Outside, Bicycling, and many others. He lives with his wife and two sons in a self-built home that is powered by a windmill and solar photovoltaic panels. To help offset his renewable energy footprint, Ben drives a really big truck.


His book The Town That Food Saved, published by Rodale, tells the story of a rural, working-class Vermont community that is attempting to blueprint and implement a localized food system. Ben is currently working on a book about food safety, to be published by Rodale in 2011.

Reviews

[Candice Forte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very well-done outdoors book! I have a ten year old son and he really loves nature. This book covers a lot of things my husband and I have talked about with him. I love the knife safety and the practical advice on what to do when you have a cut from a knife. I love the information on many outdoors things in this book. I don’t care for the Native American spiritual stories (it’s not all over) or the symbol cussing (at least it tells you not to cuss. I would not turn my son loose on this book but would go through it with him. I would imagine most people wouldn’t be quite as persnickety about things as me and all things considered the few points of contention I have with the book are probably non-issues for most people.
The book is written like the reader is being directly addressed and in a trendy manner.

[BookWizard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book very very useful! I would recommend this to cub scouts and boy scouts in training.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun book for kids that's likely to get them excited about exploring outside. I particularly liked the information about buying and using a knife. There's a lot of good and interesting information but some parents may take issue with some of it. The wild edible foods mentioned are barely sketched and then described fairly well, but you probably don't want your child eating something only from a tiny black and white sketch and a description, even if there aren't poisonous look-alikes for the plant. He mentions eating cattail shoots raw and many foraging books do also, but cattails can have parasites from the water they're grown in and we always cook them (at which point they are quite tasty if prepared properly, which he doesn't really go into fully). I was bothered by the section on eating bugs because for grasshoppers he recommends catching them with a net, pulling their legs and wings off and then cooking them. That just sounds cruel, pulling off their legs and wings and roasting them alive. My kids love nature, but they also have empathy towards the other creatures who inhabit it. In general, though, this book does have a lot of fun ideas and information that middle school kids are likely to really like.

My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

[Sara Strand · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm just going to start by saying if you have a Boy/Girl Scout in your family, this would make a really great gift for them. Full of practical tips and how-to's, this book also has jokes and fun thinks sprinkled throughout. So while your kids are reading a practical manual with information they could actually use in real life, they are being entertained and enjoying what they are reading at the same time.

Our family isn't real outdoorsy (dad has far more experience than the rest of us combined) but my older kids often go to their grandparent's home and they live in the woods. In the summer especially they play out there and this is going to be a cool book for them to take out there and try some skills out! I don't know that either of them will poop out in the woods, but I can definitely see them practicing new knots, making a whistle from a stick, or even a birch bark container. I could see this being a great gift idea for any kid or even a boredom buster over the summer when you want them off their electronics and outside doing something. Definitely consider picking this up!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the writing informative and on a level that broke the steps down well for a younger reader. It’s also quite witty with jokes that aren’t corny but will work well with a middle grade audience. I have two major criticisms with this book: the organization and the illustrations. I was unsure about the reasoning behind how the sections were put together. Instead of by theme, it might have been better to organize simply by activity, like food or shelter, etc. And the illustrations could have been a bit more clear and I think every section needed a picture to help this age group see how the skills are performed.

Despite some flaws, this outdoor guide has some good to offer for a middle-school adventurer.

For my full review: https://paulspicks.blog/2019/04/16/th...

For all my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This book is a tough one to rate, because, it isn't really a book you can read from cover to cover (though I did...major groan).
It is a handbook. It is a book you need to read one chapter, try out the things it talks about., master it and them move to the next chapter...and so on.
Page after page I wanted to just be done.
The information was well done, interesting, and written in a fun conversational style but I don't think it has a mass appeal for the purposes for the reason I am reading it.
I think it might be a book our library should purchase, because I can tell you of few outdoor enthusiast would drool over this.
(And hey, I am keeping my folding pocketknife... so deal! I think Leathermans are the greatest tool!)

[Jemma TheTravelingBookLover · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC Provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is perfect for the camper in me. As a kid I was always fascinated with nature survival and this was a book I wish I had growing up! All the advice is super useful, easy to follow the steps, and often, with a humorous element-I mean, you can’t discuss pooping in the woods without making a joke. I think next time I camp I will be even more prepared with setting up my site, starting a fire, and having a list of camping essentials. The illustrations and graphic layout of this book are very appealing as well.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly fun and entertaining book of the ourdoors and doing stuff in it for kids! I wish I were still a kid living near a woods,. Or even having kids and a woods to buy this for! Barring that, I am suggesting this book be purchased for our library as I think it is a wonderful book that kids will love. It would be wonderful if every child who lived near a wilderness area could own this book to learn outdoor skills. Wonderful book. Great illustrations. Loads of useful information.

[Elsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thorough guide for the tween outdoorsman. I especially liked the guide to choosing a knife and assembling a survival kit. The ideas for cooking with little or no kitchen equipment will be fun to try out on camping trips.

Just 3 stars for me because much of it did not apply to our local type of wilderness--Sonoran desert. We don't have a lot of sugar maples or chickadees around here. There's a chapter called "Be a Winter Explorer!" but not a corresponding one on extreme heat.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide book to the outdoors! Children of any age will love learning about building forts, camping, outdoor activities, plants, animals, etc. It's a really fun resource book and would be a great gift to give a child before summer break! Give them lots to do.

[Lexi Faith Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, and very funny!!!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is great for scouts. In fact, I might even add it to my emergency kit.