Imagine you’re a kid with time travel abilities, sent to Yellowstone National Park to solve a mystery. You’ve got a secret code to decipher, a trail through history to follow, and a powerful relic to protect… and time is running out!

Let me introduce you to siblings Tommy and Jenny Jones, the main characters in Jeff Alt’s The Adventures of Bubba Jones fictional book series. Called by their “adventure names” Bubba Jones and Hug-a-Bug, respectively, the brother and sister duo visit national parks all over the country with their family, traveling back in time to learn about park history, meet important people from the past, and encounter wild creatures and ancient plants. Bubba Jones and Hug-a-Bug get to experience America’s national parks in quite a unique way!

Their most recently published adventure, Time Traveling Through Yellowstone National Park is the fifth in the series. Bubba Jones and Hug-a-Bug have also traveled to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina, Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, Acadia National Park in Maine, and Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Each adventure challenges the siblings and their family in new ways, and they work together to solve the mystery at hand.
At the beginning of Time Traveling Through Yellowstone National Park, we learn that the Jones family has received an encrypted invitation to a very special family reunion for time travelers. When a follow-up note marked “URGENT” arrives, it is discovered that Bubba Jones and Hug-a-Bug’s cousins in Yellowstone need their help! They follow clues around the park, meeting other time-traveling family members and using their magic journal to transport them through time. I won’t tell you how their adventure ends... you’ll have to find out for yourself!

As a Yellowstone National Park tour guide, I was impressed by how much research Alt put into this book. He even cites the Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook, the de facto ‘guide’s guide’ to the park. Five pages of additional sources are listed in the back of the book, along with suggested curriculum and discussion questions, recommended for grades 3-7.

Alt is a hiker, public speaker, and author of other books such as Get Your Kids Hiking, Four Boots, One Journey, and A Walk for Sunshine, the latter two chronicling his outdoor adventures on long-distance trails. He also created the Sunshine Walk, inspired by his Appalachian Trail journey; this annual event raises money for people with developmental disabilities. His obvious passion for sharing hiking with the world is an excellent foundation for writing a children’s adventure book series.

Through Bubba Jones and Hug-a-Bug’s adventures, readers learn about a variety of topics and are inspired to be good visitors to the park. Preserving and protecting America’s national parks isn’t just for time-traveling families: it’s up to all of us!

Learn more about Jeff Alt’s The Adventures of Bubba Jones series by visiting jeffalt.com/bubba-jones-books.