Rating: 4/5 stars.

“How to Go Anywhere (and Not Get Lost) by Hans Aschim is an essential guide for children on the science of navigation and wayfinding. Chock full of illustrations and activities, this hands-on book presents the information in an entertaining and easy-to-understand way. I loved how the activities directly related to the information, providing ways for the reader to explore and really understand what they are learning. The activities also use everyday objects that most people have handy around their home, like rope, rulers, and a fridge magnet. This means that anyone can try out the experiments without having to go out and buy or find the required objects.

I really enjoyed this book and learned a lot. I had no idea that there were animals that were innately able to utilize magnetite and the Earth’s magnetism to navigate. There were a ton of cool facts like this throughout the book. The Further Reading section at the end points to a number of websites and other books that the reader can find to further their knowledge and is a very useful addition.

My few concerns about the book is that while it is very interesting and educational, it can be a bit information-heavy at times, and might be hard for younger children to understand. There is a bit of a disconnect between the illustrations and the text. The illustrations are simple and colourful cartoons, and look to be aimed at younger children. The text is at times chock full of information and technical terms, and while written simply, would not be easily understood by young children and is more suited for older children or teenagers.

My other concern is that there is no disclaimer at the start of the book. Considering the subject matter, I felt like there should be something mentioning the importance of not going anywhere without telling an adult first and getting their permission or supervision, as well as how to contact authorities as necessary for when voyaging on government or owned lands.

Overall, this book is very well done and is a great resource for children who are interested in learning more about navigation and wayfinding, especially those who love exploring the great outdoors.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book on NetGalley and have provided an honest review.*

If you have youngsters around, or anyone who might be curious about getting around in this world, this is the book for you! Filled with historical knowledge gathered through the ages included right along with state of the art technology, this book can help anyone with the “where” part of questions. Best of all, home work is included! Projects and experiments conclude each section, to help practice and prove knowledge gained, right down to figuring out your very own longitude and latitude location. As a devoted grandma, I will be making sure each of our families have a copy of this book in their homes.

With this book, getting lost will become obsolete or intentional. No more of that accidental stuff.


A Sincere Thanks to Hans Aschim, Workman Publishing Company and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review.

Neat book, full of math and science. It meshes well with earth science curriculum. I appreciated how the book started with the earliest forms of navigation, then explained the gradual advancements made to tools of the trade. The book is peppered with easy to do activities, some taking place at home, some out in the world at large. If you're interested in navigation or wayfinding, this is a book you'd enjoy. For the casual reader, I found it hard to focus on all the details. There are great little nuggets that caught my attention here and there, but I found myself skimming parts.

Thanks Netgalley for the ARC! All opinions are my own, unbiased.

potentially interesting, but overly wordy and a bit too detailed for anything under a middle school audience. Perhaps teachers would apprciate pulling some quotes from this, but I would not recommend it for my public library collection

This book is packed full of STEM-centered activities and information for middle grade readers. This book contains a very thorough introduction to explorers and navigation for kids. It is loaded with hands-on activities like making your own compass, mapping your house, and exploring your neighborhood. This is a great book for classroom and homeschool use.

I recieved a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a book for kids and the entire family. The writer of this book is a journalist and adventurer. That means quality information and details. So, put away the game systems, say so long to the phones and turn off the TV to spend some time navigating outside with help exploring this book. It is designed for fun camping and hiking, but you can even do so at a park or even in your own yard.

The illustrations and overall format of the book are not just well done, but fit well with this book too. There is a nice combination of live photos and colorful illustrations. You get a variety of things in this book including detailed information, history and hands-on activities. Others things discussed that are great for traveling, outdoor fun and adventuring include astronomy, science and geography. Readers also get information on map making and learning to get a sense of direction, which are important when exploring.

It is difficult to convey how amazing this book is. I recommend it as a must-have addition to the family library. Young children will need help getting though this book, but it something that the whole family can do together. It weaves science, history, geography, linguistics together to give an incredible overview of navigation and wayfinding, whether you have modern technology at your disposal or not. The book contains detailed instructions for hands-on activities and making various instruments of navigation.

I received a digital ARC through Net Galley, but I will definitely be purchasing this book when it comes out. I cannot wait to make the instruments with my kids and explore more of the outdoors during our new covid reality.

5 stars.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/16130002-sara

Want to learn how people found a way to plot a way to where they wanted to go? While It is written for kids this book will show many ways to learn how to navigate on land. It is interesting and fun as there are projects that can be done outside safely. If you have children, they will have fun doing them. It has history, astronomy and geographical information that gives one knowledge use for and fun. The history starts with the Polynesians And ends with the modern GPS that is used now. If for some reason you can’t use a Gypsy, you will have knowledge of different ways to find the direction you want to go. There are 20 activities in the book to do! It’s a great book!

#HowtoGoAnywhereandNotGetLost #NetGalley

Do you have a child who loves to explore? Is your child one who can't wait to try out a new path and see what is on the other side? Do they love to know what makes something work and why? Then this is the book you want to get. It presents a good overview of how people found their way around since the beginning of time. It suggests ways to find north when in the forest and invites you to go out and try them. Did you know that those ways change if you are in the southern hemisphere instead of the northern? Chapter one: early navigating in nature. Chapter two: navigating by the sun and the stars. Chapter three: distance and dead reckoning, ( Did you know that Lewis and Clark's calculations were only off by 40 miles out of 5000?), Chapter four: Finding Longitude- high tech hits the high seas, Chapter five: the almighty map and compass, Chapter six: The modern navigator: Radio Waves from Sea to space. In each chapter there are STEM activities that would be great for family adventures, scouting events or school field trips.
This 224 page book is recommended for ages 9-11, grades 3-7 and it is due to come out on March 30, 2021.
I suggest that you make yourself a note to find it when it comes out.

As a science teacher and also a teacher of history I am always looking for workbooks or for supplements to add to my curriculum in the classroom. I like workbooks that allow the students to read about the topic in story form or in a way that interests them to learn how to do. This book teaches mapping, contouring, orienteering and many more topics that are needed to understand mapping and techniques to understand your place on Earth and the navigational skills for land, water, and space. Activities for hands on learning are easily listed in step by step order in language that students will not feel intimidated by. Filled with color and good relatable history on mapping in many forms. Would use this in my classroom without a doubt.

Delightful book on navigation for kids, with lots of hands-on activities like making your own compass, mapping your house, and exploring your neighborhood. The fundamentals of navigation are explained in an accessible, understandable way, starting with an explanation of how humans are born to explore:

"Since the beginning, we've always moved around, whether it's for more space, more food, or just to see what's on the other side of the mountain. . . . Fresh air, some new company, and a kitchen restock are some of the reasons early navigators left the comforts of home for the great unknown - though they were tracking herds of woolly mammoths rather than picking up groceries down the block."

I learned a lot from this book and appreciate how it helped me notice directional and navigational indicators that I may have overlooked. I went outside afterward and looked for the different growth of trees indicating direction. I am looking forward to charting swells in water and estimating latitude.

This is a relatively long book (224 pages). Few kids may read it all the way through by themselves, especially as the activities seem pitched at different age levels. But it would be a great reference guide for parents, teachers, babysitters, Scout leaders, librarians, or anyone looking for easy to translate lesson plans and fun, educational activities for kids. Parents educating at home because of the pandemic could draw science, history, and math lessons from this book, although its expected publication date is not until March 2021. (Also, in the review copy I received, there appears to be a typo in the equation for speed.)

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

such a great way to work on map skills while learning history and geography! will be adding this to my homeschooling library at home. :-)

When first looking at this books, the number of pages was a deterrent; however, opening up the book opened up a different world. The text, graphic and white space were all well-balanced. The information is given at a level children can follow and understand. The corresponding graphics provided an appropriate amount of visual support. How to Go Anywhere (and Not Get Lost) is a great selection for an adventurous juvenile or one who just can't learn enough fast enough.

I decided to involve my daughter in reading and actively trying out some of the activities in this book. We really liked it! I was excited by the premise of the book, since I am a Girl Scout leader and often lead outdoor activities for my troops as well as community-wide events for girls (kindergarten - Sr. High) and adults (other scout leaders). I can definitely see us using some of these activities in the future!
My daughter (a 10 year old) wasn't interested in the historical bits, though I found it interesting and a great background to the different sections of the book. I imagine the standard kid would skim over those parts, but may come back and read about them later.
Thanks so much for sharing this ARC with me! I can't wait to get the printed version.

How to Go Anywhere (and Not Get Lost) is a great informational book with colorful pictures and fun activities for kids to get some hands-on learning. The book talks about the history of humans moving through the world and how navigation evolved with them. My 9 yr old enjoyed the book but skimmed to parts that he thought were really interesting as the book is pretty long.

I was provided with an electronic ARC through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

What an exceptional book on navigation for kids! My daughter is 7. She loves nature: animals, camping, hiking...you name it. She LOVED this book! It's written just for her level and it's full of useful information and fun illustrations. I highly recommend this book for your nature-loving little ones!

This title offers elementary school aged readers an historical perspective on navigation along with fun navigation activities. The book starts with a timeline; this begins 70,000 years ago and moves to modern technology and the electric car.  We go on from there with chapters on topics including early navigators, the sun and stars, and more ending with a chapter on space. 


This book has appealing, colorful illustrations that add to its content.  The activities should engage the audience.  For example, the first asks children to draw a detailed map of a place that they know. The author then asks kids to visit somewhere such as a friend's house and to then make another map.  The point is that it is easier to be detailed about places that are well known to us.


After learning the cardinal directions, children learn how to read the trees and how to practicing this skill.  This is just a brief introduction to the riches of this title.


If you would like to get your child out of the house and interested in navigation, history, science and some fun that does not involve screens, consider this title.


Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this title in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very thorough introduction to explorers and navigation for kids. It's filled with colorful illustrations and lots of history of how people around the world used the ocean, stars, sun, science, inventions and more to tell the time, find their location, measure their speed, figure out distances, etc. There are instructions for kids to replicate these on their own by making simple devices and using the knowledge themselves.

This is a really long, thorough book and I'm not sure how many kids would read all the way through without being really interested in the subject. It would make a good spine for a homeschool unit study, working math, science, history, etc. into a fun and educational topic.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

Early navigation and exploration and animals the original navigators. Other things - clues in trees, dunes, Lewis and Clark. It does have some activities that relate to topics. A good introduction to kids about navigating.

How To Go Anywhere (And Not Get Lost) By Hans Aschim is an awesome book about exploring for children. This is a interactive book that gets kids unplugged and out of the house—and teaches them cool navigation techniques to use while hiking, camping, or just exploring the backyard or nearby park. I love this book and my children do too! it is written in a easy to read fun way. My kids can pick up the book begin reading and plan their next outdoor adventure all while learning important life skills. The book starts by telling some of the history of early navigators. There are sections titled the sun and the stars, high-tech hits and high seas, the almighty map and compass, radio waves from Sea to space. Each section gives loads of information and even includes different activity's for the child to do. This book will teach your child how to navigate. This book will show your child how to make a map, how to figure out where North, South, East and West are. How trees can give you clues in finding your way! You can make your own star clock and much more! I highly recommend this book and think it would make a great addition on any child's book shelf. Every school library should have a copy as well.