Books about Scouts/Scouting
October 9, 2022 4:21 PM Subscribe
My 5 year old is a new Beaver Scout. He tends to be a little afraid about new things so I'd like to give him a better idea what Scouting is like and give him something to get excited about. Books excite him and he often gets excited about things we read about in books. Point me to some books about scouting.
Picture books or chapter books (though not chapter books for really older kids -- like we read some middle-grade chapter books, but young adult books).
I would be happy with pretty much anything about Scouting (Except see below), but would especially like at least one thing that talks about the badges. I think planning and achieving a badge would be something that would excite him and would also be really good for him.
This is Canadian Scouting, not BSA, so while I'm not opposed to materials that come out of BSA scouting, I'm not really interested in the quasi-military/Christian/LDS or boy-focussed aspects of BSA as these are not part of Scouts Canada.
Picture books or chapter books (though not chapter books for really older kids -- like we read some middle-grade chapter books, but young adult books).
I would be happy with pretty much anything about Scouting (Except see below), but would especially like at least one thing that talks about the badges. I think planning and achieving a badge would be something that would excite him and would also be really good for him.
This is Canadian Scouting, not BSA, so while I'm not opposed to materials that come out of BSA scouting, I'm not really interested in the quasi-military/Christian/LDS or boy-focussed aspects of BSA as these are not part of Scouts Canada.
The Scout Shop has books and tracker sheets.
This My Beaver Scout Logbook for badge tracking has stickers.
There was a Beaver Scout 25th Anniversary Book; author Amanda Li has another Scout-themed book but it looks like it's for older kids.
Friends of the Forest, "The story on which the Canadian Beaver program is based" is online.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:49 PM on October 9, 2022
This My Beaver Scout Logbook for badge tracking has stickers.
There was a Beaver Scout 25th Anniversary Book; author Amanda Li has another Scout-themed book but it looks like it's for older kids.
Friends of the Forest, "The story on which the Canadian Beaver program is based" is online.
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:49 PM on October 9, 2022
Scouts Canada changed the program a few years back to a new program called The Canadian Path. There are aspects of it that I think are stronger and an improvement over the previous program, but one things I don't like is they dropped The Cub Book, which was a really great resource.
It does contain information on the old program, but it does also have a lot of great information on outdoor skills. It's probably still available at used book stores or Amazon.
posted by kaefer at 4:49 PM on October 9, 2022
It does contain information on the old program, but it does also have a lot of great information on outdoor skills. It's probably still available at used book stores or Amazon.
posted by kaefer at 4:49 PM on October 9, 2022
https://www.breachbangclear.com/scouts-a-canadian-experience/ is a woman's experience with Canadian Scouting. Sorry, it's not a novel.
https://scoutdocs.ca/Documents/ has some stories, but I don't think it matches what you are looking for. It appears USA oriented.
The Beavers were founded and influenced by the story Friends of the Forest by Harry McCartney, among other folks.
posted by blob at 4:50 PM on October 9, 2022
https://scoutdocs.ca/Documents/ has some stories, but I don't think it matches what you are looking for. It appears USA oriented.
The Beavers were founded and influenced by the story Friends of the Forest by Harry McCartney, among other folks.
posted by blob at 4:50 PM on October 9, 2022
Response by poster: Thanks everyone...just to clarify, what I would really like is books about kids who are scouts. Stories. He reads books about kid detectives and he wants to be a detective. He reads about kids do8ng science He wants to be a scientist. He reads about baseball players, he wants to be a baseball player. So I'd like him ti read about kids who are scouts. Surely in the 50 million or so paperbacks scholastic puts out every month, there are some scouts?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:08 PM on October 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 5:08 PM on October 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Mouse Scouts! (It’s a series.)
Paul Joins the Scouts miiight have too much FLQ crisis, but I offer it
posted by warriorqueen at 5:23 PM on October 9, 2022
Paul Joins the Scouts miiight have too much FLQ crisis, but I offer it
posted by warriorqueen at 5:23 PM on October 9, 2022
The Pee Wee Scouts series by Judy Delton is about scouts. They are from the '80s and '90s so I don't know if they are a contemporary enough look at scouting.
posted by xo at 5:24 PM on October 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by xo at 5:24 PM on October 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
Follow My Leader (Goodreads link) has scouting in it, but it's more about the main character learning to work with his guide dog after being blinded by a firecracker. It's also quite old!
posted by freethefeet at 5:29 PM on October 9, 2022
posted by freethefeet at 5:29 PM on October 9, 2022
Recent kid series Alien Next Door, short chapter books. #3 in the series is Alien Scout:
"Zeke has revealed to Harris that he's an alien and Harris is thrilled to have an alien best friend! This weekend, Harris has a Beaver Scout outing in the wilderness, so he invites Zeke to join in on the fun. Zeke doesn't quite understand all the activities, like sleeping outside and telling ghost stories, and he is a little careless with using his powers, which leads one scout to become a little suspicious. Will Harris be able to help Zeke hide his identity from everyone?"
posted by lizard music at 7:04 PM on October 9, 2022
"Zeke has revealed to Harris that he's an alien and Harris is thrilled to have an alien best friend! This weekend, Harris has a Beaver Scout outing in the wilderness, so he invites Zeke to join in on the fun. Zeke doesn't quite understand all the activities, like sleeping outside and telling ghost stories, and he is a little careless with using his powers, which leads one scout to become a little suspicious. Will Harris be able to help Zeke hide his identity from everyone?"
posted by lizard music at 7:04 PM on October 9, 2022
The Berenstain Bears touched on the subject of Scouts a few times. The synopsis for The Berenstain Bears Blaze a Trail specifically talks about earning a merit badge - seems like Papa Bear comes in and mucks things up a little, which might worry a nervous young one, but the Berenstain Bears always come out all right by the end of the book so maybe it would be okay. Skewing slightly older, there's the book just called The Bear Scouts, which I think focused more on camping than merit badges, and then an entire series of Bear Scouts mysteries.
posted by sigmagalator at 7:41 PM on October 9, 2022
posted by sigmagalator at 7:41 PM on October 9, 2022
I hesitantly suggest... Lumberjanes?
posted by humbug at 8:14 PM on October 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by humbug at 8:14 PM on October 9, 2022 [1 favorite]
How about the Junior Woodchucks? Guardians of the Lost Library is a great story about them.
posted by SweetLiesOfBokonon at 3:52 AM on October 10, 2022
posted by SweetLiesOfBokonon at 3:52 AM on October 10, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:23 PM on October 9, 2022