The Bumper Book of Nature

August 1, 2010

This delightful title is a guide to discovering--or rediscovering--nature for children and their parents. Like The Dangerous Book for Boys, the Bumper Book is a bible of things you ought to do and know, complete with pretty line drawings of flora and fauna, rules for games, charts of information, and steps on how to explore the great outdoors like children used to do. For adults, this is a warm and homey walk down memory lane, a remembrance of simpler times and the joy of just being outside. For children, this is a how-to of exploring, playing, and being a part of the world away from TV and scheduled activities. My own boys, ages four and five, took this book as a challenge, asking to take it along to the park, in the backyard, and anywhere that would help them accomplish their goal of "doing everything in the book." VERDICT Simple in the best kind of way, this is a wonderful collection of naturalistic explorations; it will be popular in the children's and adult collections.--Jaime Hammond, Naugatuck Valley Community Coll., Waterbury, CT

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