Teddy Bear Leads Kids to the National Parks

No electronics, just an old-fashioned book that sparks youngsters' imaginations, is the driving force behind Tedrick de Bear's travels across the national park system. Teddy's Travels, America's National Parks ($19.95, TdB Press), is an award-winning book by Trefoni Michael Rizzi that teaches kids a little something about the parks while they're enjoying them.

Launched just about a year ago, the book built around Tedrick de Bear approaches visits to national parks much as an 8-year-old might.

Throughout the book Teddy talks about things to do in the parks, such as campfire talks, hikes, and tours, and even provides some helpful advice, such as, Don't feed the bears! and take care to protect the parks.

Teddy's book also is crammed with activities. There's room for journal entries, to paste postcards purchased at the parks, even space to leave a National Park Passport cancellation so your kids will know exactly when they visited a particular park.

This book is designed tough to stand up to the rigors of going on the road and intended for kids to read as they tour the parks. As Teddy leads youngsters around the various regions of the park system, he talks about a handful of the parks, monuments, and historic sites in each and asks questions about the sites to get youngsters to exercise their brains a bit.

But the book isn't the only part of the package. There's a website where kids can read Teddy's blog, and if they join Teddy's CubClub they'll receive a quarterly email newsletter.

This creative book, which recently won Silver Medals in the Book of the Year competition from both Foreword Magazine and the Independent Book Publisher's Association, not only is a great introduction to the parks for kids, but can turn into a keepsake thanks to the activities it offers and stores on its pages.