An Adventure Inside an Adventure

Our family recently had the opportunity to spend a couple of days camping in the mountains between two scheduled trips to our state fair. We had lots of fun adventures and I am planning several Field Trip Friday posts about that trip, but today I want to talk about another part of our trip. Our adventures through three different books while we were on our trip. We listened to two books on audio while we were traveling and read another one aloud at our camp site. (If you have not tried Audible, you are missing out on a great way to get more reading into your life.)

I love that books can give us a family adventure while we ride and I enjoy watching the children make connections to the book as we go throughout our days. On this trip, the first book we listened to was My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George. This book is about the adventures of a boy named Sam that leaves home to live by himself on a mountain. He learns how to make fire, build a home in a tree, find food, hunt, and more. They loved hearing all of his adventures and the fact that we were on our way to the mountains made it even better. At our campsite and as we hiked, they would talk about what Sam might have done. They looked at the trees and wondered what it would have been like to hollow one out and create a home. They found streams of water for bathing and cooking. They found rocks that could be used as shelters and wondered if the plants we found were edible. We are actually doing a unit study on this book so I will be sharing more in a couple of weeks but know that everyone in the family enjoyed this book. The children have all asked that we listen to the sequels soon. 

While we were at the campsite we read Jem’s Frog Fiasco . This is the second book in the Goldtown Beginnings Series. I will be doing a full review of both this book and the first one in the series soon but I had to mention them because everyone enjoyed listening to them. They are designed for young children and are perfect for my five-year-old. However, the bigger children listened without complaint and wanted to me to keep reading. They tell of the adventures of two young siblings and their parents as they live and play in a California gold camp town.  The book had my son looking for gold along the mountain lake near our camp site. He enjoyed it so much that we are looking into taking him to a mining museum to learn more and try his hand at gold mining.

Finally, on the way home we listened to The Last Archer.  The story is a side story in the wonderful Green Ember series. We love this series by S.D. Smith and all of the adventure and excitement that he includes. The series is about “rabbits with swords”. It tells the story of groups of rabbits who are coming together to fight the “Lords of Prey”, create a mended wood, and put the rightful heir to throne back into place. We had gotten a little behind on listening to the series but the last book is coming out in the spring of 2020 so we are getting caught up so we will be ready for that book when it is launched. These books have so much to offer in the way of good versus evil, bravery, compassion, and more. I would say they are ideal for the upper elementary and middle school age group, but my five-year-old enjoys listening to them as well.

Whether you are traveling or at home, books can be a great way to have a family adventure. They give children shared experiences, positive role models, fun stories, and fuel for the imagination. How do you use books and stories in your family? What are some of your favorite book adventures?

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