Ellie
Twelve, observant, sharp, and learning that not every question offers an immediate answer.
TRAILBOUND ADVENTURES
Follow Ellie’s journey.
What if your next year could take you almost anywhere?
Trailbound Adventures follows twelve-year-old Ellie, her dog Poppy, and the family members and friends who travel beside them. Each story begins with a real place—and with the questions that appear when Ellie starts paying attention.
BOOK ONE
The journey begins at Dreher Island.
Ellie arrives at a lakeside campground in South Carolina carrying more uncertainty than enthusiasm. An old homesite, signs in the forest, and a boy who knows the island’s history begin to change what she sees.
Because something about Dreher doesn’t add up.
Trailbound Adventures: Dreher Island is a middle-grade novel for readers ages 10–14.
FREE PRINTABLE • UPPER-ELEMENTARY & MIDDLE GRADE
Start your own field journal.
Explore a place through noticing, sketching, questions, and reflection.
The Trailbound Journal pairs five examples from Ellie’s journal with five pages for children to create their own entries. Learners move from simple observations to thinking about people and place, interpreting clues, making maps, and reflecting on community and connection.
Use it during outdoor learning, a family trip, homeschool exploration, or alongside Trailbound Adventures. A visit to Dreher Island—and purchase of the novel—are not required.
Includes 10 black-and-white, letter-size journal pages. Best suited to upper-elementary and middle-grade learners, with adult support as needed.
Free printable • 12-page PDF • 10 journal pages
A LOOK INSIDE
Ellie’s examples. Your observations.
Read Ellie’s page first, then use the paired page to make your own entry.
MEET THE TRAVELERS
A family journey shaped by real places.
Poppy
Ellie’s constant companion—and often the first to notice what everyone else has missed.
Faye & Odell
Ellie’s parents are building an unconventional travel year around work, family, and places worth understanding.
Lily
A restored vintage Airstream carrying family history into every new campsite.
BEYOND THE STORY
Keep exploring after the last page.
Trailbound novels stand on their own. Readers who want to continue can explore the real places, ecology, history, and questions behind each adventure.
- Start your own Trailbound Journal.
- Visit the real place behind the story.
- Discover family and educator resources.
- Follow confirmed journey updates here.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Dreher Island is only the beginning.
Future Trailbound stories will take Ellie, Poppy, and Lily into new landscapes, communities, mysteries, and ways of seeing. Confirmed journey news and reader extras will be shared here.
The world gets more interesting when you pay attention. Every place has more to discover.