Adventure Awaits

When the wild calls, this outdoor survival guide makes sure young adventurers are ready to answer. Australian stuntperson, survival expert, and TV personality Furneaux draws on her own bushcraft experience to offer an engaging guide to survival in the outdoors that's at once comprehensive and compulsively readable. Organized into manageable sections, the book covers core outdoor survival principles, including shelter, water, and fire. Each section presents a historical example to learn from, explains the topic's importance (with scientific context), provides detailed yet approachable instructions, shares helpful tips and tricks, and offers hands-on activities so readers can safely practice their skills. The final chapter is a lengthy quiz that allows budding outdoorspeople to further cement their knowledge. From showing how to tie knots to catching and preparing small animals to eat, demonstrative photos and detailed line drawings help readers effectively visualize techniques. The text debunks common bushcraft myths while offering fun facts (you actually can eat most slugs and snails--but avoid the brightly colored ones!); at the same time, Furneaux doesn't shy away from the serious nature of the topic and the dangers inherent to wilderness excursions. While she encourages adult supervision throughout the book, some of the practice activities--like starting a fire using a battery and steel wool--feel unsafe for the intended audience. The outdoorspeople who appear in photos appear white. Kids--and their grown-ups--will want to pack this book in their go bags. * – Kirkus Reviews *