In December 2019 I reported on the Educational Writers Award. This book was one of the finalists. Its subtitle is: The incredible expeditions of 20 explorers. The stories included here certainly are incredible, such as the prisoners who escaped from jail in order to climb a mountain — and then broke back into it! Or the young man who, paralysed from the waist down at the age of 15 because of a car accident, became a paralympics champion and visited 34 countries around the world in his wheelchair.

Some of the people featured are familiar names (well, familiar to adults at any rate). For example, Amelia Earhart and Ranulph Fiennes. However, most of the names were unknown to me, although that may of course be a reflection of my own ignorance of such matters.

The book is light on text, but in many respects it is more like a graphic "novel" than a traditional book. It's colourful, accessible, and has enough detail to whet your appetite to find out more. The section at the end of each explorer's story in which Humphreys explains what inspired him about the person is a nice touch, as is the very last chapter in which the focus is on the reader, challenging him or her to think big and decide on their own adventure. These stories are inspiring because they create a sense of "Well, if they can do it, why not me?" They are designed to help the reader believe that they can do it too, backed up by much more substantial evidence than vague and vacuous pronouncements like "You're wonderful, you can do anything."

There are a couple of disappointments in the book though.

In the Meet The Adventurers section at the beginning, the biographical notes are in a minuscule font. There is also a paucity of dates for some reason. Finally, it would have been handy to have a further reading list at the end of the book. Despite these quibbles, Great Adventurers is a lovely book, especially if you need to buy a present for a young girl or boy. It's easy to see why it made the Education Awards shortlist.