The Ultimate Survival Guide (The science of...) - Softcover

Gr 4-8–While most children are not likely to be stranded on the polar ice caps, or become lost in the Sahara among the Bedouin, there is fun in speculating about what if...? This title is introduced by Ben Fogle, an adventurer who so loved the Canadian wilderness as a child that he grew up to hack through jungles, row a small boat across the Atlantic, and spend a year on an uninhabited island. Some of the survival tips offered in this attractive book may relate to exotic environments, but most are shown to have applications in anyone's backyard. Six chapters cover topics such as knowing where you are and where you're going, coping with extreme temperatures, finding food and water, communicating for help, and essential survival gear. The kid-friendly format contains factual information amid colorful illustrations and photos. Each chapter has activities such as how to make a sun compass, a pizza-box oven, or a water filter from natural materials. Real survival stories from history appear as spiral-notebook pages in each chapter, such as a doctor who didn't tell anyone he was going fishing and became caught under a boulder, or the well-known account of the soccer team whose plane crashed in the Andes and was portrayed in Piers Paul Read's Alive (Harper Perennial, 2005). Tips, warnings, and trivia will keep unmotivated readers engaged, and a final quiz will test their new survival knowledge.Vicki Reutter, Cazenovia High School, NY
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