Description

Bear Grylls — ‘Packed FULL of adventures’

The Guardian — ‘A clarion call to the child explorer […] a spectacular immersion in the life of the wild.’

Daily Express — ‘Exquisitely illustrated […] children will treasure it for years to come.’

A facsimile edition of the tattered notebooks of the Unknown Adventurer, this love letter to the wild details everything you need to know about how to live and thrive in nature, from the principles of treehouse building to wilderness first aid.

If you are reading this, it means my notebooks have been found. I am leaving them here at camp for safekeeping along with a few other belongings that I won’t be taking with me. The notebooks are a lifetime’s worth of knowledge, which I’m passing on the you.

So reads an excerpt from the weatherworn letter discovered by nature enthusiast Teddy Keen on a recent trip to the Amazon, along with sketchbooks filled with details of extraordinary adventures and escapades, expedition advice and survival methods, annotated with captivating coloured-pencil drawings. It is thought that the sketchbooks were created for two young relatives of the author. Drawing on Teddy’s knowledge of the outdoors, the pages of the sketchbooks have been carefully transcribed for young readers, as they were originally intended.

You’ll be transported by riveting adventure tales from around the globe, like being dragged off by a hyena in Botswana, surviving a Saharan dust storm, being woken by an intrepid emperor penguin in Antarctica and coming face-to-face with a venomous bushmaster (one of the most dangerous snakes on the planet) – all told in lyrical prose and illustrations that wonder at the mysterious beauty of the wild.

Having inspired the adventurous spirit in you, the Unknown Adventurer encourages you to set out on your own adventure with information on wild camping, rafting, exploration, and shelters and dens, plus tips on first aid and tying knots. Expert instructions on wilderness basics, like building a fire, what to do if you get lost, and how to build various types of shelters are accompanied by more specific skills culled from many years of experience, like baking campfire bread, creating a toothbrush from a twig, making a suture from soldier ants and even how to pan for gold.

Find your way back to your primal self with the immersive text and glorious colour artwork of this one-of-a-kind adventure book.

REMEMBER: be good, be adventurous… and look after your parents.

Publisher Review

‘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.’ * Let Them Be Small * ‘… exquisite artwork practically forcing the reader into the wild.’ * inews * ‘… a treasure trove of knowledge for kids who love outdoor escapades.’ * WWF * ‘Packed with exciting stories, it contains everything you need to know about surviving in the wild!’ * National Geographic Kids * ‘It’s an extremely detailed and in-depth book that you can lose hours in, with magnificent illustrations highlighting the exotic Amazon and the beauty and importance of the natural world. A treasure of a book for any enthusiastic adventurer and lover of the great outdoors.’ * BookTrust * ‘Exquisitely illustrated […] Children will treasure it for years to come.’ * Daily Express * ‘A clarion call to the child explorer […] a spectacular immersion in the life of the wild.’ * The Guardian * BOOK OF THE WEEK ‘Skilful drawings show deserts, rapids, canals, forests, mountains, jungles, islands, oceans and the equipment for surviving in them, with tips on how to construct shelters or rafts, or improvise an oar. The breathtaking landscapes offer a sense of the grandeur of the natural world. And would-be explorers might enjoy the anecdotes about being dragged by the leg by a hyena, or eating maggots from a pig’s carcass.’ * Sunday Times * ‘Packed FULL of adventures which are all taken from the notebooks of an unknown adventurer.’ * Bear Grylls *