Grandma Gatewood’s story, of how she just “kept putting one foot in front of the other” and wound up hiking the entire Appalachian Trail at age 67 back in 1955, is well-known among long-distance hikers. But… it’s probably not so well-known among children. Jennifer Thermes aims to change that.

A children’s book author who previously wrote and illustrated Charles Darwin’s Around-the-World Adventure, Thermes’ latest work takes on Emma “Grandma” Gatewood’s story for kids 5 to 7 years old.

“The idea for the book actually started with the Appalachian Trail,” said Ms. Thermes. “I’d been fascinated by the A.T. for a few years—the way it meanders up the Eastern Seaboard through changing terrain—and Benton MacKaye’s vision for what it could be. But I struggled with how to tell a compelling story about a place.

“I came across Emma’s name while reading about people who had hiked the trail, and there was something about her ‘just do it’ sensibility that I found appealing—tough, but with kindness underneath it all. I felt that kids would connect with her personality and her amazing journey.”

Naturally, for such a young audience Thermes doesn’t get into the domestic abuse Gatewood suffered at the hands of her husband and father of their 11 children. But she touches on how Gatewood enjoyed heading into the countryside behind their farm to get a break. And she explains how a magazine article about the Appalachian Trail that noted that no woman had ever hiked the entire path inspired Grandma to take a hike.

Through 48 pages, Thermes goes light on words but heavy on rich illustrations and maps that track Grandma’s trek from Georgia to Maine. And from time to time she drops a dollop of trivia, such as the “second-fastest on-land wind speed ever was recorded in 1934 on Mount Washington, at 231 miles per hour,” and that author Herman Melville was inspired to write Moby-Dick in part by the humpback shape of Mount Greylock in Massachusetts.

At the end of the children’s story, Thermes provides two pages of more detailed information on Grandma for parents, and background on the Appalachian Trail itself.

This book can not only introduce youngsters to nature and the Appalachian Trail, but also inspire them to seek out nature and make hiking a regular part of their lives.