Tag Joshua Rice

Young Adventurers’ Survival Handbook

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Young Adventurers’ Survival Handbook
Naomi & Dan Walmsley, illustrated by Joshua Rice
Button Books

This is another excellent book from team Naomi and Dan Walmsley, who run Outback2Basics and are the authors of several books about forest school. The focus of their latest is adapting and survival in unexpected conditions. It’s a book I would definitely have been grateful to have read before embarking on a camping trip with my best friend back in the day. The tent we were sharing I was assured, was waterproof, but during a sudden huge deluge I soon found it was anything but. My way of adapting to the unexpected circumstances was to find the nearest youth hostel to stay in.

There are five main chapters herein: Fire, wood & warmth, Food & water, Camp Crafts, Tricks & tips and finally First aid & emergencies. The first presents fire basics, which includes ways to make fires with different arrangements of logs; lighting a fire in windy, damp and rainy weather. I was fascinated to discover that under extreme conditions it’s possible to use a toothpaste tube as a fire starter. Obviously you’d need to clean it out, cut off the bottom part and add petroleum jelly to sawdust or wood shavings, then fill the tube with the mixture by means of a stick and seal the open end. When the starter is lit it ought to burn sufficiently long to ignite more sticks. This is just one of the ways you could make a fire lighter using the instructions provided.

Clearly food and drink are important considerations and without extra food, foraging is likely to yield a fair few edible plants and perhaps, unless like me, you are vegan, minibeasts of various kinds.

Lots of these can be stewed or baked – instructions for cooking are provided.

One topic in Camp Crafts that’s worth practising before embarking on an expedition is to learn how to tie basic knots and visuals for tying at least half a dozen are included.

I could go on mentioning ideas from the remaining parts but let me just say that anybody thinking of spending some time in the wild should get themselves a copy of this book.

100 Ways to Save the Planet

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100 Ways to Save the Planet
Tom Jordan, illustrated by Joshua Rice
Button Books

Engaging readers from the outset with his ‘superhero footprint’ suggestion, Tom Jordan provides a wealth of ways children can reduce their carbon footprint. starting with cutting out meat from their diet or if that’s too big a leap then reducing the amount eaten with fewer meat-consuming days per week and encouraging other family members to do likewise. To that end, related topics are suggested on later spreads; for instance growing your own vegetables.

I wonder how many people don’t ensure they’ve turned the taps off properly after showering or bathing, or brush their teeth with the water running: saving water isn’t hard, it just needs a bit of thought. Some of that bathwater you do use can then be used to give your ‘pet dragon’ a drink, (ie a Dracaena houseplant) – another cleverly linked suggestion.

I’ve noticed many primary schools and children’s playgrounds have already constructed bug-friendly ‘hotels’ with the help of youngsters, but there’s still a way to go. Why not take the ‘Build a bug-friendly borough’ suggestion literally and with adult assistance, encourage all schools in your area to do likewise.

Reduce, repair, recycle, reuse: these are key practical words for anybody looking to tread more lightly on our planet. There are plenty of ideas to implement these actions and it matters not whether children can actually read the book for themselves. With its enticing, clear illustrations by Joshua Rice and interesting facts, this is an invaluable handbook for any family, primary or even secondary classroom: think of all the environmental superheroes it could inspire.