This adventure series by well-known outdoorsman Bear Grylls focuses on a group of kids at camp who find themselves in unique outdoor situations with Grylls, who teaches them survival skills. Each text introduces readers to a character dealing with a challenging social situation in which they feel embarrassed, anxious, or left out: one character deals with a lack of direction, another hates water, and another is a very picky eater, to name a few examples. The characters are each given a compass (passed along by a character from another installment of the series) that magically transports them to Grylls’s location, where they learn valuable lessons about what they are capable of, thus improving their confidence back in the real world. While these tales, peppered through with illustrations, are undoubtedly formulaic, they will appeal to reluctant young readers looking for fun tidbits about life in the wild such as how to skin and gut a dead moose or make a shelter to survive a blizzard. VERDICT A great choice for collections in which adventure stories for reluctant readers are in demand.