Bowhunting for Kids

November 1, 2012

Gr 3-5-Despite repeated references to the "thrill of the hunt" in Deer and descriptive opening scenarios in every volume, these introductions for young anglers and hunters (Camping is the odd title out) fail to provoke real enthusiasm or provide sufficiently specific information. Though the color photos do show young people of both sexes in camouflage or blaze orange vests armed with guns, bows, or fishing rods as appropriate, the texts are skimpy. For example, in Deer readers are encouraged to field dress their kills but are not shown how, and in Bowhunting prospective hunters are left to guess what a "string silencer" might be. Coverage is not systematic either: a list of bow-hunted animals includes bears(!) but not fish even though fish are mentioned later, and the techniques in Fishing do not include fly fishing.

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