mark the mountain guide

Thanks must go to Darren for spotting this.

Mark the mountain guide is written by Mark Seaton a qualified mountain guide, and is an adventure story for kids. Beautifully illustrated throughout the story tells of how Mark and the gang are cut off by an avalanche and how they make their return home from the alpine hut they were staying in.

It's more than a story though. Told in a rather matter of fact way, the book describes the danger but also the precautions and procedures used to negotiate safely in this type of environment. Accompanying the book is a toy karabiner and piece of rope for your audience to practice tying clove hitches and figures of eights. There's an appendix on knot tying, and another on how avalanches are caused and happen.

With the subject matter and technical content in mind, I think that this book would appeal to children in the five to eight year old age range. That's not to state that younger one's won't find the story in itself entertaining.

The acid test of course comes when I read the book to my son once he's opened it for Xmas.

moveable feasts - a cicerone guide

What to eat and how to cook in the great outdoors is the sub title of this new book from the guide book and outdoor information publisher.

Some of you may be wondering why a diabetic who suffers from coeliac disease is reviewing a cook book but Moveable Feasts is much more than a collection of recipes. It is in fact a comprehensive guide to all aspects to outdoor cookery. It covers everything from nutrition and hydration, through equipment and storage, stock items, wild food foraging, suggested menus and, of course, a selection of recipes.

The bias of the book is very much towards static car based camp cookery with Trangias and gas cylinder cookers prevalent in the the photographs. That's not to state that there isn't anything in here for lightweight backpackers, there's a wealth of information held within the 297 pages. The alphabetic listing of food stuffs with storage, cooking tips and nutritional information is a very useful reference section for those wanting to add variety to their meals or get a new slant on what they currently carry and cook.

If you're new to the outdoors this is a handy reference for all things food. Indeed I would recommend this to any schools that run DoE courses, if only for the fact that I would hope the next party of teenagers that I see cooking on a campsite would be preparing food that I would want to eat, medical conditions allowing of course.