Book Review: Camping for Kids

  Today's kid-lit review is non-fiction.  Camping for Kids, by Melanie A. Howard, part of the "Into the Great Outdoors" series from Edge Books.  30 pages, early to middle grades (?).

I stumbled on this book while sorting books at the library, and thought I should take a look, as we have been taking our kids camping, hiking, and backpacking since they were babies.  I should note, however, that this is not a how-to for parents, but more of an introduction to concepts for the kids in five brief chapters. 

The first chapter, "Out in the Wild," offers a brief summary of why people camp and the history of camping for pleasure in the U.S. (interestingly, some people were camping for fun while others were still walking behind their wagons and camping because that was the only way to get from Point A to Point B).  A final paragraph mentions various approaches to camping: bike camping, RVs, boating or hiking.  My only real problem with this chapter is that the lovely opening picture spread shows a tent on a sort of sandspit sticking out into a lake--definitely NOT an acceptable campsite (which should always be at least 100 feet from water, preferably 200 feet).

Chapter Two, "Packed up and Ready to Go," talks a little about essentials, tents, sleeping bags and backpacks.  It discusses water treatments, and finishes with car and RV camping extras.  My reaction to this was that it couldn't make up it's mind if it was for kids or parents.  As a general rule, it is not the children who are making decisions about things like water treatment, type of sleeping back, or tent purchases, though it helps if the kids understand why they have or do certain things.

Chapter Three, "From Bear Bags to Bandages," covers exactly that, plus fire safety.  Again, I think the focus is off.  For children, it is less important to know that they should hang the food 100 yards from camp than to know that they should NEVER keep food in the tent.  The discussion of fire safety is more on target, as kids are the ones most likely to be paying attention to the fire.  I think it might not hurt to mention that care should be taken when "tending" the fire, based on the things my boys have thought of to do with fires over the years.  On first aid--advising children to "take a first-aid class before your trip" seems completely off, since few such courses would even accept children young enough to be reading this book.

Chapter Four is "We're Here.  Now What?"  This chapter offers a few nice suggestions about what you might do in and around camp, helpful for those who've never been outdoors enough to figure it out for themselves.

The final chapter, "Leave No Trace,"  outlines a few basic Leave No Trace (LNT) principles, like leaving no trash, camping on durable surfaces, and not taking anything from the wilderness.

My take on the book is that it can't make up it's mind what it's doing.  The writing is very simplistic, as for kids in about grade 3-5.  But the content deals at least half the time with matters that such children would not be managing.  Perhaps it's meant to give kids the info they need to get their parents to learn enough to take them camping?  If I were to write the book, I have to say that my focus would be more on showing kids why they want to go, and how to be safe and happy, using the gear their parents provide--tips like "bring a small favorite stuffy" will probably do more to help a child have a good sleep in the backcountry than a learned debate on the merits of down vs. synthetic sleeping bags.

2.5 stars

*********

 Here's the other result of my reaction to this book.  Many years ago I put together a little picture book and shared it with my friends.  I called it A is for Alpine, An Alphabet Book for Little Hikers.  After reading this "kids' camping guide," I have decided to dust off the alphabet, upload to Smashwords, and offer the book for 99 cents to anyone who wishes to have something to share with small children who may be camping for backpacking for the first time.  It doesn't do the same thing as Camping for Kids, exactly, and while maybe it's not brilliant,  I think it will help little ones and their parents get excited about getting outdoors.  Plus: pretty pictures, all from real packtrips we've taken with our real kids.  Who really don't care what their sleeping bags are made of as long as they are warm, and get candy.

I'll even put up the paperback on Amazon, though I sadly have to charge more for that, due to printing costs for color pages.

So watch this space for more information about A is for Alpine, and happy hiking!

I've put it up--still fussing with some issues, but it's on Smashwords now, for 99 cents, and will soon be available as a paperback at Amazon for $6.99!

Mystery Monday: Killing Cassidy, by Jeanne M. Dams

 Before we even start, I want to announce that we have two winners from the Giveaway! 

Congratulations to Suzie Williams and Cheryl Rahkonen

Emails have been sent; please respond by the end of the week or I will need to choose new winners.

 Now, back to our regularly scheduled programing. . . .


After a long course of kidlit, time for another bit of adult fiction, a cozy mystery.

Killing Cassidy, by Jeanne M. Dams.  Hardcover, 210 pages

Source: library

Summary: This is book 6 in the Dorothy Martin mystery series, and sees Dorothy returning to her old home in Hillsburg, Indiana, with her new husband (retired police chief Alan Nesbitt).  The occasion is the death of an old friend, and Dorothy and Alan are shocked to find he has left a letter indicating that if he is dead, someone has murdered him.  He doesn't know who, doesn't know why, but knows that someone has been trying to kill him, and would she please find out who.  Naturally, they do.

Review:  The Dorothy Martin series definitely falls into the "cozy" category of mystery, as well as the "older women who wear hats" category (I'm not sure what it says about me that I'm getting attracted to books about older women who wear hats, but I think I can guess).  It's a pleasant, easy read with a convincing mystery (to even figure out who killed Kevin Cassidy, they have to solve the almost harder mystery why anyone would want to, not to mention how you commit murder by pneumonia), and enough suspects that I couldn't narrow it down.

The narrator (Dorothy) makes a number of references to Dorothy Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey novels, especially Gaudy Night, which as a big fan of Sayers I found fun.  I think she also had Busman's Honeymoon in mind during the development of the story, because this was a classic example of what Lord Peter declares in that book, that "when you know how, you know who."  Indeed.  When they know how, they know who, but it took me until well after they'd revealed who to figure out how they knew.  The author does do us the credit of not explaining it in too much detail, leaving it to the reader to either puzzle it out or accept their brilliant leap of intuition.

I prefer the books set in England, in some ways (always fun to have an exotic setting, though I recognize that for English readers, Indiana may be an exotic setting), but this was a very well-constructed and well-written mystery.

Four stars.

Awards and Awwww-wards

This is ending up another week of blogging every day!  Amazing how what looked so hard at the beginning of April is now apparently hard to avoid!  But I have some business to take care of.
I've kind of let this slip, but during the A to Z I was tapped three times for the Liebster Award.  Now M. L. Swift has awarded me another award, and it's past time I responded.  I know that once before I declined to participate in the Liebster, but three times. . . in any case, I have to thank my nominators!  And I think I mentioned in response to them that I do like to talk about myself,  so answering the questions is kind of fun.


First, childrensbookstore.com selected me for an award, not so much for one particular review (even though that's what the badge says), as for general contributions.  I'll just quote from their notification to me:  "We feel that your reviews on children's books deserves recognition as a contribution to childhood literacy."  I do feel honored, and thank Jake Ball at childrensbookstore.com.  No quiz questions to go with this.



Next, The Super-Sweet Blogger Award, thanks to M. L. Swift.  This one is trickier--instead of a permanent badge, I have to find my own picture and set up a link, I think.  So here's a sweet birthday cake:

And there are 5 Diabolically Sweet Questions to answer (will those suffice as random facts?):
Cookies or cake?  First one, then the other.  Both home-made or skip it.
Chocolate or vanilla?  Chocolate, preferably with chocolate on it and a bit of extra chocolate.  Did I mention I like chocolate?
Favorite Sweet Treat?  Well, there's the cake and cookies we just mentioned.  But if I need just a bit of something sweet, I opt for dark chocolate.  At least 75%, better if it's 80 or 85%.
When do you crave sweets the most?  Typically after dinner, because I grew up with dessert every night.  Coffee breaks whimper for sweets, too, since coffee goes so well with pastry.
Sweet nickname?  I don't really have one.  But it was a key moment in our courtship when my (now) husband called me "Sweetheart."

Jemima Pett, you and your Princelings get this one, because what could be sweeter than a bunch of guinea pigs with their own books?


Finally, the Leibster Award:

Thanks to Heidi Mannan at The Enchanted Pen, Sherri Lackey at Sherri's Graphomania, and Sarah Chafin at Simply Sarah for all nominating me for the Liebster, an award for bloggers with under 200 followers (someday I hope to no longer be eligible for this one!).  Since I don't want to answer 33 questions (11 each!) I am going to select a few from each for a total of 11.
1.  Why did you start your blog?   Because everyone said an author needs a blog.  I had no idea what I was doing.
2. What book are you currently reading?  About 4, as usual.  Bless the Bride, by Rhys Bowen; Command a King's Ship, by Alexander Kent (I was listening to that one, but I messed up transferring from CD to my MP3 and ended up just getting the book so I could sort out the story); Anne of Avonlea, by L.M. Montgomery, and a memoir called No Life for a Lady,  the name of whose author escapes me.  And I'm listening to a Flavia DuLuce novel (not sure of the spelling--I'm listening to it, okay?) by, uh (runs off to look it up) Alan Bradley.
3.  Its raining, not just a drizzle, but a full downpour, you have nothing planned for the day.  What do you do?  Go for a run.  Seriously, I love to run in a downpour.  Then a hot shower, a cup of cocoa, and a book.
4. Do you prefer to call or text?  haven't learned how to text.  I prefer email to both most of the time.
5. Do you listen to music when you clean?  What type?  I used to more than now.  Now I usually listen to books while I clean--much more thorough distraction!  But sometimes I want music, and then it's usually the rowdier end of the folk music I listen to all the time. 
6. What is your relationship to your mother like?  We have always gotten along well.  This is probably partly because I was such a late bloomer that I did all that love stuff after I was out of the house.  I love my Mom and wish we lived closer
7. What is your guilty pleasure?  Reading Louis L'Amour.  He couldn't write for beans, but his stories sure are good exciting fun.
8. Do you outline or are you a seat-of-the-pants writer?  I have always been a pantser, but I am beginning to think a little more organization would be good.
9. Do you write aspects of your personality into your characters?  I don't think it would be possible not to.
10. Do you have pets?  No, I have allergies and long vacations.
11. Are you weird?  I'm pretty sure most people who know me would say I am.  I was seriously weird in high school, but as one ages, one's peers become less uniform and weirdness stands out less.

I think I'm supposed to add 11 random facts about myself, but I can't think of any.  The sweet facts above will have to do.

Instead of nominating 11 bloggers, I will nominate one: Julie Leuk at A Thought Grows.  Julie, I'm going to assign you to answer the same 11 questions, because. . . I don't want the world to run out of questions!



Meanwhile. . . last chance to enter the Giveaway!


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