Pocket Guide to the Outdoors, Based on My Side of the Mountain

When I first read My Side of the Mountain as a young girl, I was fascinated with the possibility that someone especially a young person could live off the land, foraging for wild food. This basic survival guide, authored by Jean Craighead George and her son, Twig, provides the curious reader with more information on outdoor survival, framed by excerpts from the novel. This is not only a great tie-in to the book, but also serves as an excellent first survival guide, or even a jumping-off point for an outdoor survival unit study. Short chapters cover: camping, types of shelters, building a fire, finding water, possible protein sources (fishing, fresh roadkill, even bugs), outdoor cooking, edible plants, poisonous plants, tying knots, tracking animals, bird songs, falconry, hiking and trailblazing, navigating, outdoor safety and recipes to try. The brief and easy-to-read text is accompanied by green, sketch-like illustrations and occasional diagrams. While you'll find more limited content here than in other survival guides in this section, this one is well-written and very accessible for younger readers and is likely to pique their interest in learning even more, or trying some of the activities and recipes. 138 pages, pb. Jess