The Kid's Summer Handbook - Softcover

Drake, Jane; Love, Ann

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0395687098 ISBN 13: 9780395687093

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1994

Synopsis

Offering more than 100 activities for vacations spent near the water, in the mountains, at a cottage, or camping, this is the complete summer survival book. Filled with safety tips, ecological pointers, and wildlife features, this handbook can help transform an ordinary vacation into an unforgettable one.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 5 Up-Originally published in Canada as The Kids Cottage Book, this compendium of activities offers ideas galore for young vacationers. Six broad sections-Shoreside, Landside, After Dark, Hiking and Camping, Rainy Days, and Cottage Crafts-cover a wide range of nature investigations, water sports, arts and crafts, recipes, and safety information that varies greatly in both difficulty and age appropriateness. From crayfish trap to canoe strokes, raising monarch butterflies to building a tree fort, paper-folding to whittling, there is something for everyone here. The appealing format features lots of pencil illustrations and diagrams. Most topics fill one or two pages, with large green headings and green-tinted boxes containing lists of ingredients, ecology suggestions, or nature facts. The array of crafts, activities, and outdoor skills will make the book a useful tool for camp counselors and scout leaders. Children who delight in quiet activities will find a wealth of them as well. In fact, the book's only flaw is its inconsistency in advising adult help. Many of the materials' lists include "an adult helper," although often the directions fail to mention what kind of supervision is needed and when. A disclaimer on the verso of the title page absolves the author and illustrator from liability for damages resulting from "conducting the activities without proper supervision, or from ignoring the cautions contained in the text." Thus, the age designation.
Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Gr. 4-7. The authors, who assume that readers will spend time during the summer at a lake, a river, a beach, or the woods, devote the first section of this book to activities for various outdoor sites. Some of the activities are translatable to urban venues; most are not. Most of the rainy-day craft projects will work anywhere, though a few call for materials not readily available (a dead whole fish with scales, for example). The authors note when adult help is needed, but often not prominently. The illustrations feature a lively multicultural cast, and directions are clearly visualized, especially those for whittling, knotting, weaving, and paper craft projects. Young outdoor enthusiasts may be attracted to this, but the book will be most valuable to an adult planning day-camping activities. Mary Harris Veeder

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0395687098
• ISBN 13: 9780395687093
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208
• Illustrator: Collins Heather