Wild Child: Coming Home to Nature

“Quiet but compelling arguments about the importance of kids getting out more and connecting to nature … A book that deserves to flourish. ” —The Guardian

From climbing trees and making dens, to building sandcastles and pond-dipping, many of the activities we associate with a happy childhood take place outdoors. And yet, the reality for many contemporary children is very different. The studies tell us that we are raising a generation who are so alienated from nature that they can’t identify the commonest birds or plants, they don’t know where their food comes from, they are shuttled between home, school and the shops and spend very little time in green spaces—let alone roaming free.

In this timely and personal book, celebrated nature writer Patrick Barkham draws on his own experience as a parent and a forest school volunteer to explore the relationship between children and nature. Unfolding over the course of a year of snowsuits, muddy wellies, and sunhats, Wild Child is both an intimate story of children finding their place in the natural world and a celebration of the delight we can all find in even modest patches of green.

“Entrancing … If ever there was a book to fuel the ecological interest of future generations, this is it. ”—Isabella Tree, author of Wilding

“Barkham takes us through a year giving his children an education in wildness. He encourages them that a physical relationship with wildlife is of the utmost importance … His memoir reveals the abundance of wildlife that can be explored in our own back gardens. ” —The Herald

© 2021 Granta Books (Ebook): 9781783781928

Release date

Ebook: 4 January 2021