Book Review: Travels with Gannon & Wyatt

Fifteen-year-old twin brothers Gannon and Wyatt have traveled the world over. With a flight attendant for a mom and an international businessman for a dad, the spirit of adventure has been nurtured in them since they were very young. Together with authors Patti Wheeler and Keith Hemstreet, they’ve created three books in the Travels with Gannon & Wyatt series (so far): Botswana, Great Bear Rainforest and Egypt.

Each Travels with Gannon & Wyatt book is loosely based on real-life travels. The stories are told in the tradition of the historic journals kept by explorers such as Lewis and Clark. We get to know each of the boys well through their entries, which highlight not just what they’re up to, but also the beauty and dangers of each of the places they visit.

These books are geared toward the middle-school crowd, but The Big Explorer was excited to give them a read. Together, we devoured the first two books in the series. In a nutshell, they try to save a lioness and her cubs from poachers in Botswana; in Great Bear Rainforest, they go in search of the mythical spirit bear, but discover much more. We both found these books a delight and are very excited to read more as the Travels with Gannon & Wyatt series continues.

What The Big Explorer likes about Travels with Gannon & Wyatt:

• The travel-journal style makes the stories easy to read. There are even black and white pictures sprinkled throughout.

• Gannon & Wyatt are funny (at least to a 9 year old) and the entries feel like real kids talking.

• Learning about all the different places and things the boys do when they travel. The Big Explorer thinks Gannon and Wyatt must be pretty interesting people.

• There are more books to come in the series!

What Mom likes about Travels with Gannon & Wyatt:

• The books are fun to read together. The Big Explorer and I took turns reading journal entries out loud to each other. The books were entertaining and I loved being able to continue to share reading with my 9 year old.
  

• The stories offer us a chance to dream of our own nature adventures. I love traveling to the planet’s wild places and these books help make those adventures seem doable even for kids. 

• There’s lots of education happening here, too. Gannon and Wyatt don’t just share their adventures, but what they learn about the planet and its inhabitants along the way. We even meet native guides who help them (and us) understand both the natural and man-made threats to themselves and the environment.

Win a set of Travels with Gannon & Wyatt books!
We really enjoyed these books, so I am thrilled to be able to offer one lucky reader a set of three books in the Travels with Gannon & Wyatt series: Botswana, Great Bear Rainforest and Egypt (which hasn’t even been released yet!).

To enter, leave a comment naming one natural place you’d like to travel with your child/children. It’s that simple! Good luck!

• This giveaway will run through midnight PST on Fri., Dec. 20, 2013 Jan. 3, 2014.
• You must include an email address with your comment. Entries without an email address will not be included. (If you prefer, you can send me your entry by email.)
• This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. 
• The winner will be chosen using the nifty random number generator at random.org.
• Winner will have 24 hours to reply to my notification. If I don’t hear back after that, I’ll pick another winner.

Note: I received a free copy of Travels with Gannon & Wyatt: Botswana & Great Bear Rainforest in exchange for providing my honest review with you. Read my full disclosure policy for more information.