by Maxwell Eaton III
2023 / 144 pages
Scout and her big brother have gone on a four-day backpacking trip in the mountains, but while he thinks of himself as a “nearly professional local guide,” he hasn’t known where they are for the last three days. So he can’t get them home. Then, when he drops both his GPS tracker and phone in the river (what horrible luck!), they have to turn to the compass that Scout brought along. But, wouldn’t you know it, a bear shows up, and her brother takes off with compass in hand, not to be seen again until story’s end.
So, that’s the setup: – Scout is now all alone, lost in the middle of the woods, with some of the basic supplies you should always have when hiking, minus a compass, tent, stove, and water treatment supplies, which are all with her brother. So how is she going to survive and help her rescuers find her?
This might sound a little tense, but with the goofy brother starting things off, and a skunk providing Scout companionship, this is low-key throughout.
It’s meant to be instructional. We see Scout devising a shelter, and learn about others she could have made. Similarly, Scout shows us all sorts of ways to get a fire started, and the proper way to ensure it burns safely. There’s all sorts of other lessons to be learned, but it’s done in such an engaging style that even kids who’d never want to be out amongst the worms and bugs will want to read Scout’s adventure.
Cautions
No warnings of note in this book but a sequel, Survival Scout: Tsunami, has a handful of evolutionary assumptions popping out about the age of the earth, so, you can give that one a miss.
Conclusion
This is a lot of fun and would make a great gift for any kid who loves the outdoors. And for everyone else it will be a great borrow from the library. A third book in the series has been announced, Survival Scout: Lost at Sea, and I look forward to checking it out.
