by Mike Lawrence
2021 / 123 pages
When mom and dad go off on a trip on their ownsome, Sophia and Alonso are driven to their grandpa’s to spend the weekend fishing with him. Neither of them is wild about it, but thankfully they aren’t bratty about it either: they do love their Grandpa, or Abuelito as they call him.
When the kids get to their grandpa’s house, it turns out the old man has a few tricks up his sleeve to build up enthusiasm for their outdoor expedition the next day: he gets them both doing a couple of fun projects.
The first project has Sophia and Alonso building their own “buddy burner” – a candle of sorts that can be used as a handy fire starter, or even as a small camp stove in a pinch. To make it they have to melt wax and pour it around a cardboard spiral they cut out of a box.
There are 8 projects in total, all described in detail so readers, with some parental supervision, can try them too. Some can only be done when you are actually out in the woods, but others can be practiced closer to home.
- Build a buddy burner
- Create your own compass
- Learn how to fish
- Start a campfire
- Cook a fish
- Learn some first aid basics
- Learn water purification basics
- Build a shelter
After they get out in the great outdoors, their Abuelito twists his ankle, and they are forced to stay in the woods for the night and put these last three lessons to use.
This is a survival 101 text disguised as a comic book, and author Mike Lawrence has done a good job of it – boys will be intrigued.
Boys will also like a required bit of potty humor. To survive in the woods, you do need to learn how to do a #2 without a potty. Thankfully grandpa is up to the task of teaching how to do this right. I never knew there were so many different ways you can squat! The topic could have gotten distasteful easily enough, but this was done well.
Cautions
Cautions are limited to the other entries in this Maker Comics series. We liked Draw a Comic but there is definitely a woke edge to some of these others. So these two get two thumbs up, but the series does not.
Conclusion
Buy this one for your 10 to 12-year-old son, but only if you plan to put the lessons to use. Otherwise, it would be too much of a tease.
All in all, a very fun, and very instructive introduction to surviving in the outdoors.
