Happy Campers With Miss Shirley & Friends

If you thought a bandanna was basically a fashion accessory, "Miss Shirley" and her eight aspiring young naturalists will set you straight with demonstrations of nearly a dozen uses ranging from a handy tote to a first-aid bandage. In Happy Campers, instructor Miss Shirley teaches kids the rules of walking or hiking in the outdoors: get parental permission, take an adult, pair up with a buddy, bring a makeshift backpack (for picking up litter), wear a whistle, etc. As the kids walk through the woods, Miss Shirley encourages them to use all of their senses to explore nature, as they encounter squirrels, woodpeckers, fungus growing inside a tree, and pine cones (the young Auduboners take in the sights through their toilet paper roll binoculars). A low-budget production, Happy Campers With Miss Shirley & Friends is a pleasant and informed introduction for young naturalists filled with loads of good advice and common sense. (Like: "the only thing naturalists leave behind on their nature walks are footprints.") Recommended. (Available from: Kids Express, P.O. Box 11176, Springfield, MO 65808; (417) 889-2234.)