Wild Girl: How to have Incredible Outdoor Adventures is a non-fiction book by TV presenter Helen Skelton. In her book, she teaches children how to have adventures via six different chapters. The book does come with a warning that these adventures require adult supervision and are not suitable for children under ten.

Beginning with ‘Adventures in Snow’ Helen explains about her travels to Antarctica, heading towards the South Pole. She takes you on a journey as she documents what it was like to be in -48 Degrees Celsius weather as she skied, kite-skied, and cycled 500 miles. From her training and preparation to her kit list and adventure report, plus there are many more valuable pages of information including amazing photographs.

Helen then explains some ways for people to have fun in the snow without travelling to Antarctica. She also gives you a snippet of information into those female adventurers who have braved the cold over the years. Including Barbara Hillary and Sarah McNair-Landry.

Throughout the rest of the book, Helen relives her adventure in the sand, on the water, up in the mountains, throughout the countryside, and around the city. Each chapter follows the same pattern including what Helen did and in what part of the world, what you can do closer to home and famous people who have done similar things to her.

If you have ever seen Helen Skelton on TV you will know how her soft, yet confident manner comes across genuine and her tone in the book is no different. I loved finding out about her adventures and there were a few famous people I’d never heard of either.

Her advice on how to have similar fun near the children’s homes includes some easy to achieve items such as having a snowball fight and cycling to more adventurous things such as paddle-boarding or abseiling.

I think children, especially those that crave adventure, will love this book. Even if they don’t end up following any of Helen’s advice, I’m sure they will enjoy reading about her time in The Amazon or Namibia, I certainly did.

About the Author

Helen Skelton was brought up on a dairy farm in Cumbria, so it was no wonder she ended up spending a lot of time outside. One of Helen’s longest standing presenting roles: Blue Peter saw her take on incredible challenges; completing the Namibia Ultra Marathon (becoming the second woman to ever do so), kayaking over 2018 miles down the Amazon River (breaking two Guinness World Records), completing a 66 metre high wire walk between the towers of Battersea Power Station and in 2012, Helen travelled 500 miles across Antarctica to the South Pole becoming the fastest person to travel 100km by ski, breaking more World Records.

Helen has worked on London 2012 and Rio 2016 as well as presenting the World, Commonwealth and European swimming Championships. She has been part of the Countryfile presenting team since 2012. Most recently Helen has reported on numerous occasions for ITV’s topical magazine programme Tonight. In 2018 Helen co-presented Big Week at the Zoo celebrating the conservation work carried out by great British Zoos and in January 2019 she investigated fascinating periods in British history in the Archaeology series Digging Up Britain’s Past.

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