Customer Reviews

Willy Whitefeather's Outdoor Survival Handbook for Kids

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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Great book for children and adults that Love their kids enough, to give them simple learning skills that could come in handy, when we least expect it. I know of kid's that have already truly been saved by the lessons taught in such a way that, children remember them forever. Everyone should have a copy of this fine work in their home, because we all like the outdoors, but we never know when we might need the guiding know-how in this handbook. As willy says, "make it back safe."

This small book is 95 pages of pure reading pleasure and for such a small volume, I cannot imagine how Willy Whitefeather was able to pack so much useful knowledge in and still have a delightfully readable book. I you and your children spend any time at all in the outdoors, camping, hiking, fishing or just wondering about, I can hardly imagine a more useful book. In fact, I would almost go as far as to say that this should be mandatory reading for any parent or child who ventures outside.

This book covers every thing from getting lost and surviving, to finding directions, going to potty, stings and hurts, talking sticks, things to watch for, campfires, lighting, rainstorms, hypothermia, common sense, proper dressing, shelter building and so much more. It covers survival in the desert, mountains, woods and swamps.

The book is amply supplied with wonderful black and white sketches that both kids and adults can relate to. The text, while simple, is not overly simple and is absolutely loaded with wisdom. I truly believe that a book such as this, read with the parent or care giver, is as important as learning to swim to assure your child's well being when they are out of doors.

I have been involved with the outdoors all my life, was actually camping on my own in the deep woods at the age of eight and my travels have been literally all over the world. Much of those travels have been in the back country where ever I was. I have received extensive survival training and, along with my wife, have certainly had some hair- raising experiences. As much as I thought I knew, I was still able to pick up new information with this one, and more importantly, it gave me a wonderful tool to be able to pass on knowledge to the little ones. I cannot stress enough the usefulness of this book. It is an absolute delight. If you can find a copy, I certainly recommend you add it to your and your child's library. You certainly will not be sorry for having this one on your shelf, or better yet, in your kid's hands.

I have 6 children ages 3-14 who are homeschooled. We have been doing Wilderness Awareness as part of our science. Willy Whitefeather's Outdoor Survival Handbook for Kids is great! Like an above review, it is a little cheesy, but it has helped my kids to get the information to sink in. My older 3 boys have been learning survival skills since they were little, and even they picked up a few unknown facts! My 6 year old and 9 year old benefited the most from this book. Although, even my 2 youngest...3 and 4 years of age remember some of the things in the book.

If you are looking for more curriculum, may I suggest Kamana for kids...available from the Wilderness Awareness School in Washington State. They have classes, but they also sell curriculum for kids and adults in their store.

And for older children, I would suggest any of Tom Brown's books or-The Boy's Book of Outdoor Survival: 101 Courageous Skills for Exploring the Dangerous Wild by Chris McNab.

My brother and I read and re-read this book many times as kids over the years, it has been in print for quite a while. Seriously, if you take your children camping or backpacking this book is a good idea (even if they never get lost). The drawings are somewhat rudimentary but fun and very comical. The advice may seem a little "out there," (especially for very small children) but it is sound advice and if my kid were out in the woods by themselves, lost, I would want them to at least have some idea of what to do (even if it only provided a little bit of confidence or comfort). My brother still has the book in his bookshelves at his home (we are both in our twenties now). We have both fondly reminisced about this book and I expect that one day our own kids will read it! Strongly recommended!

I found this book very easy to read and with fantastic information about short-term survival in the wilderness. Thank you!

I ordered this book for my 6 year grandson. We do a lot of camping and hiking and thought it might be fun for him to have his own books and learning tools. He loves this book. He really listened and learned. We tried out everything! The writing is creative and fun and the picture of Dooley trying to put a boulder in his mouth instead of a small rock to quench his thirst made him giggle for hours. There is so much information in this small book. It is worth every penny knowing that if my grandson wandered off, he would know how to survive and be found!

I was fortunate to have a family friend when I was 12-13 years old (1980's). He was constantly traveling, camping, and canoeing. He would come stay at our house often when he was 'in town', and not camping in the desert. He taught me many outdoors skills; taught me to canoe, use a bow & drill to make a fire, even came to my school and gave a fire-making demonstration. Since then I have always loved the outdoors and became quite the 'desert woodsman.'

I'm in my mid-30's now with kids of my own, and my son is asking me to teach him some of the neat stuff I know. While I am not the patient teacher that my outdoor mentor was, I am doing my best. This reminded me of my friend, Willie Whitefeather, and prompted a Google search.

Come to find out, Willie wrote this book. I immediately bought this book and read it before passing it on to my son. Brought back so many great memories of my times with Willie, and I realized how fortunate I was to have been able to learn everything in this book, and a bit more, from the man himself. My son loves the information in the book, cant wait to try it out, although controlled as he doesn't really want to be lost in order to use it.

AS FOR THE BOOK:

Willie wrote the book similar to how I remember him talking. Lots of strange and cute ways of putting things with fairy-tale like stories as examples. The problem I had with the book is that it is written in a manner that small children can understand, but much of the information is what I feel far to advanced and hard for a small child to accomplish. I would say 10-14 is probably the best age for most of the book, although much of the beginning would be great for a 4-8 year old to learn. If you look at the book in sections; the first half for small kids, the second half for "tweens," it would be great. The problem being if you dont understand that this is how Willie talks, a typical 'tween' will think its a little kid book and not want to read it.

How to make, build, and use a bow & drill to start a fire, plus the fire itself, are bit much for a small child to realistically accomplish. I had a hard time of it at 12-13 and I had Willie with me in person. Look at youtube to watch hundreds of videos trying to teach it, and you will see that it is VERY hard to learn and successfully accomplish.

The sections talking about marking your trail, finding shelter (not the making it part), drinking water, and some others, are GREAT information for a kid who ever has a risk of getting lost. The bow & drill, building a shelter, and few others, are all far too complicated for a small child to accomplish. Honestly, I know many adults who cant do that stuff right.

Overall, it is a great book for a kid to read. Just be sure to read it with them and explain that some of the items in the book are unrealistic without being practiced ahead of time. They need to try the fire-making part to understand how it is done. Although this in itself could be worth much more than the cost of the book, both you and your kids practicing some of the skills together would be great fun and make memories to last a lifetime.


I was pleased to find during my Google search that is seems Willie kept doing what he always did and seems to still be happy. While I haven't seen him in 25 years now, I still remember him well.

This book is a little cheesy, and the illustrations weren't that great. However, it does have a lot of survival tips in it. I am pretty sure that there are better outdoor survival books for young boys and girls.