“A Scout is never taken by surprise;

He knows exactly what to do when anything unexpected happens.”

Sir Robert Baden-Powell,

British Army Officer and Founder of the Boy Scouts

I recently asked a group of young Cub Scouts

To review Mystery of Madera Canyon for me

And many of them provided wonderful feedback

And wrote some marvelous reviews most graciously

Having been a Cub, Boy, and Explorer Scout myself

Scouting enhanced my love of nature and the great outdoors

And these young Chicago Cub Scouts were really magnificent

Making me admire the wonderful Scouting Program even more

My favorite review was written by young scout Solomon Ramos

Who drew this very captivating picture of my book with pleasure

It colorfully depicts one of the owls the old ghost of Madera Canyon

And young Bonafacio and his loyal dog Lobo finally finding the treasure

“Dear Mr. Kostro,

My name is Solomon Ramos.

I am 6 years old.  I’m going to first grade.

The book was great.  I loved it.

It was both scary and funny.

And Lobo is the best!”

Solomon Ramos

Thanks so very much to all the Scouts of Pack 3889

I think that you young Cub Scouts are very very cool

And I hope all the glorious years ahead of you in scouting

Enhance your love for everything in nature’s magnificent school

As a youth, Sir Robert Baden-Powell greatly enjoyed the outdoors, learning as much as he could about nature and how to live in the wilderness. After returning as a military hero from service in Africa, Baden-Powell discovered that English boys were reading the manual he had written for British solders about wilderness survival. So, he rewrote this manual as a nonmilitary nature skill book and called it Scouting for Boys.

To test his idea, Baden-Powell brought together 22 boys to camp at Brownsea Island, off the coast of England. This extremely historic campout was a huge success, and resulted in the advent of Scouting.

The imagination and inspiration of Baden-Powell, later proclaimed Chief Scout of the World, truly brought Scouting to youngsters all over the world.

And on this 95th anniversary of the founding of the Boy Scouts of America, I salute the history of Scouting, its founder, and these still very inquisitive, still ‘ready for anything,’ still ‘always prepared’ young scouts of today.

“The spirit is there in every boy;

It has to be discovered, and brought to light.”

Sir Robert Baden-Powell