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Adventure Stories for Kids: Gannon and Wyatt

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Seven-year-old Emma may come across as very calm and even sedate, but this girl loves adventure! Emma would like to travel the world, but we can’t do that right now, so I am always looking for exciting new books for her to travel through. The new middle-grade adventure series, Travels with Gannon & Wyatt, was a great find for her!

Travels with Gannon and Wyatt_ Botswana

These books are based off of the adventures of real-life twins, Gannon & Wyatt, who you can view video clips, photos, and more from online. The videos are pretty neat! So far, there are three books in the Travels with Gannon and Wyatt series: Botswana (released May 2013), Great Bear Rainforest (released October 2013), and Egypt (to be released January 2014). We were sent copies of all three books.

Emma is working her way through the Botswana book right now, and she really likes it! She picked it to start with because we have blog friends who are living there right now. I asked her what she thought of the book, and this is what she had to say:

  • I like that they have journals, but how they take turns writing entries in the book. So, they both had their own journals, and then they put them together to make a larger book. You get to read the way they think about things differently.
  • I like how some (Wyatt’s, especially) journal entries say what time it is and where they are.
  • I like that they are brothers.
  • I like that the pictures in the books are real photos.

I think the books are neat, but I find the combination of real-life characters in a fiction book somewhat confusing at times. I wish they would either stick to true-life stories (which should be plenty exciting on their own), or include notes at the back of the book clarifying what really happened and what was made up. I think that either of those options would make the books even more educational than they already are without sacrificing their appeal to middle grade readers – in fact, a fact vs. fiction clarification would have really appealed to me at that age, as would have the opportunity of peering into the lives of real-life kids close to my age who were having some incredible adventures! Since the books are fiction, and some incidents are made up, I’m teaching Emma to make (supervised) use of the internet and other resources to separate fact from fiction.

The other thing I would love to see in these books is color photographs. The places these boys go are so different from standard USA neighborhoods, and black and white photos are limited in what they can depict. Personally, I would pay slightly more for a book that included beautiful color photographs, like those included in some of adventurer Thor Heyerdahl’s books.

Do you have an adventure story loving child? US readers of this blog have a chance a chance to win all three of the books we received! 

This giveaway has now ended. Congratulations Christy K!

Three Kindle Fires are being given away on the Travels with Gannon and Wyatt Facebook page in November – so be sure to drop by and enter that giveaway, as well!

Emma is always looking for new books to read! Do you have one that you recommend?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.

18 thoughts on “Adventure Stories for Kids: Gannon and Wyatt”

  1. It’s so fun to think of Emma reading about Botswana – please tell her she can email me if we can help with her “research.” Do you think these would be good read-a-louds for younger kids or should we wait a few years?

    1. They might enjoy them as read-alouds – especially where you know the region for the Botswana book at least. I would love to hear what you think of them if you do read them.

  2. I have a gut feeling that she gets her since of adventure from her momma!!
    I am going to look into those books for LUke…they may be above his reading level..but I think they look like something he will love! Thanks for the tip!

  3. I would give these to my daughter who loves to read everything, but especially books about nature and the world. I think these would tickle her fancy – thanks :)We are reading ‘Fortunately, the milk’ by Neil Gaiman at the moment as a read aloud – very funny, crazy chapter adventure, with great illustrations in it too

  4. Interesting. I’m not familiar with these books. I sometimes like the combo of factual and fictional characters, but it has to be done well and you are right, there should be notes clarifying what is actually know about the events.

  5. Wow Mama, thank you so much for this review!

    We LOVE Gannon and Wyatt. It’s fun series. We are enjoying reading about all their adventures and are looking into their exploration society. Having just learned about Ancient Egypt, it sort of helps to reinforce the material we learned/are learning. Many of the things talked about – we have talked about (pyramids, phararohs, etc).

    I liked that they are representing homeschoolers in a positive light – they are smart, well thought out, well read. I like that they are having unique experiences. I guess it’s unique to us, but it shows my kids that the possibilities are truly endless.

    I’m not sure who is enjoying the books more, me or them. Haha!

    Thanks for the awesome and complete review! I am so glad your children are loving them as well!

  6. Those sound like a great adventure series! I’ve always wanted to go to Botswana. It’s so close to us so I must go there someday. Currently Emma G is loving the Ivy and Bean series (although it’s not an adventure series) and the Ramona books. Thanks for sharing about these. I’m going to check them out!

    1. Botswana sounds like a fascinating country – I would also love to visit there, someday. I need to introduce Emma to Ivy and Bean. She loves the Ramona books.

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