The Lost Book of Adventure #nonfictiongems

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Where do I even start with this beauty of a book? I honestly don’t think I can do The Lost Book of Adventure justice; it is simply fantastic and I love the history and back story of how this fantastic book came into being. The author, Teddy Keen, discovered a sealed metal container in a remote hut on the banks of the Jari River. The contents of the box were the work of an unknown artist and adventurer and was packed full of notebooks and sketches and a letter. The letter appeared to be written to two young family members.

The container and its contents were sent to the UK and Teddy and a team of experts have spent over two years compiling this absolute gem of a book. It’s a mighty book and one that we have only scratched the surface of if truth be told. Its around 200 pages and is sumptuously illustrated. It’s full of imagination and practical skills such as camping and rafting, making shelters and dens. There’s also a section on First Aid, water safety and ropes and notes that will come in handy when D does some of these skills at Beavers in the next term.

There’s so much to discover in this book and I hope it sparks the imagination for my three. I am going to use this in the quieter moments of our weeks and months to do some imaginative writing with the children; there’s a section (page 74) called ‘Secret Island Expedition) and I just love the images the writing creates. I want to use this book as a springboard into more creative work – maybe some artwork and creative writing. There’s *so* much to explore in this book that we can use at home for not only creating our own adventures but also for thinking about the ways we can write about and discover adventure.

I’ll admit when I was emailed the press release for this book I wasn’t so sure about it, and a week later a copy arrived in the post. I am so glad it did as there’s so so much to delve into with this book. I find it exciting and inspiring and can only imagine how the children feel as we sit down to share the stories in the book. It reminded me of the words of Ernest Shackleton, (Polar Explorer) who once said:

It is in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown. The only true failure would be not to explore at all.”

I need to get better at encouraging the children’s inquisitive side and this book, I hope, will be the catalyst we need to really explore and make the most of the summer this year. I’m probably not going to go all out wild camping with them, but there’s definitely ways to add a bit of adventure to life and I think something like a glamping adventure might be the introduction that’s right for us right now.