Linda Soules Releases 'So You Want To Be An Explorer,' a Career Guide for Kids Ages 10 to 14

Author Linda Soules has released So You Want To Be An Explorer: A Kids' Guide to Exploration, Adventure, World Geography, and the Daring Travelers Who Discover New Places and Cultures, a 42-page illustrated children's nonfiction book for readers ages 10 to 14. The book, listed at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766198 (ISBN 978-1-972766-19-4), explains what working explorers actually do: the scientific training, physical preparation, survival skills and teamwork that expeditions require. It has been named a finalist in the Adventure category of the 2026 Literary Global Children's Book Awards. It is the latest entry in Soules's So You Want To Be A… series of career-exploration books, which now includes more than 60 published titles.

Books about exploration for young readers often rely on the romance of treasure maps, pirate ships and lone adventurers planting flags. Soules takes a different approach. Her book describes exploration as a profession built on years of preparation, and it shows how that work is organized, funded in effort if not in glamour, and documented. The intended reader is a child who studies maps closely, wonders what lies past their edges, and wants to know whether that curiosity could become a career. The book is written for that reader's level of seriousness rather than for a younger audience that needs the details softened or removed.

The book's central premise is that modern exploration covers far more ground than the historical image suggests. It moves from deep ocean trenches to polar ice fields, from uncharted jungles to the edges of the solar system, and it treats each as an environment that was never designed for human beings. Readers are introduced to the range of roles on an expedition team, including scientists, navigators, survival specialists and local guides. The book also addresses a question rarely answered in children's titles: how explorers record what they find so that a discovery becomes part of the permanent human record rather than a personal story.

Within its 42 pages, So You Want To Be An Explorer walks readers through the groundwork that comes before any departure. Young readers learn how explorers master geography, navigation and survival science, and why that knowledge is acquired long before a team enters the field. The book describes a typical day for an explorer and explains how teams prepare for months of fieldwork in extreme and remote places. Each topic is presented as a set of practical questions, such as what the work involves, what it demands and how people get ready for it, with specific answers rather than general encouragement.

The book gives equal weight to the physical and psychological demands of operating in harsh conditions. It explains how explorers prepare both body and mind, and it does not skip over what the work costs in time, risk and responsibility. Historical figures appear throughout, introduced as travelers whose daring journeys expanded what humanity knows about its own planet and about other cultures. A closing section turns to the reader and lays out what young people can start doing now to find out whether exploration might be their calling. Every page is illustrated, supporting the geography and science content with visuals designed to make the material memorable.

The title is positioned against a common pattern in children's nonfiction, which tends to simplify difficult material or to treat careers as a list of exciting tasks. Soules's stated philosophy is to never talk down to kids, and the book applies it by including the unglamorous parts: long training periods, the strain of extreme environments and the obligation to document findings accurately. It also treats exploration as a field with many entry points, not only a single heroic archetype. By featuring scientists, navigators, survival specialists and local guides together, it shows that expeditions depend on collaboration and on different kinds of expertise.

"Kids who read every map to its edges deserve a book that tells them what exploration really takes, including the training, the risk and the reward," said Linda Soules, author of the So You Want To Be A… series.

The book is aimed at readers ages 10 to 14, though the series notes that its audience extends beyond that range. Likely readers include middle-grade students with an interest in geography, science and travel, young people weighing future careers, and curious children who prefer factual material to fiction. Parents, teachers and librarians looking for nonfiction that connects classroom subjects such as geography and earth science to real professions may also find it useful. The closing section, which suggests concrete steps young people can take now, gives families and educators a starting point for conversations about fieldwork, study habits and the skills that exploration requires.

So You Want To Be An Explorer is available through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766198. The book is 42 pages, carries ISBN 978-1-972766-19-4, and is categorized as children's nonfiction. Readers and buyers can find current format options and pricing on the listing page. The title joins other books in the So You Want To Be A… series, which are available through the same retail channel and cover a wide range of professions. Review copy and interview requests can be directed to the author through the listing page.

The explorer title sits inside a larger publishing plan. The So You Want To Be A… series is envisioned to reach more than 180 titles, with more than 60 published to date and new releases appearing on a steady cadence. Existing subjects range from astronauts and marine biologists to magicians, stunt performers and roller coaster designers. Each book follows the same template: pull back the curtain on one real career, describe its joys and challenges, and outline the path to get there. The explorer book's recognition in the 2026 awards cycle reflects the series' broader standing, which includes a Grand Prize at the 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards and a Silver Award in Children's Nonfiction at the 2026 CIPA EVVY Book Awards.

About Linda Soules and the So You Want To Be A… series: Linda Soules is the author and creator of the So You Want To Be A… series, a growing collection of career-exploration books for readers ages 10 to 14 and beyond. The series is envisioned to span more than 180 titles, with more than 60 published to date. Her approach is to never talk down to young readers, who she holds are smarter, more curious and more capable than publishing often assumes. Each title examines a real career, including its rewards, its difficulties and the route into it. So You Want To Be An Explorer is available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1972766198.