Companions in Wonder: Children and Adults Exploring Nature Together
328Companions in Wonder: Children and Adults Exploring Nature Together
328Paperback
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Overview
An anthology of adventures with children in the natural world, from capturing fireflies to encountering a grizzly bear.
Rachel Carson's classic 1956 essay “Help Your Child to Wonder” urged adults to help children experience the “sense of wonder” that comes only from a relationship with nature. It's clear we haven't succeeded in following her advice: eight-year-olds surveyed in the United Kingdom could identify more Pokémon characters than common wildlife species; and Richard Louv's recent best-selling book Last Child in the Woods identifies a “nature deficit disorder” in children around the world. But today a growing number of environmentally minded parents, teachers, and other adults are seeking to restore nature to its rightful place in children's lives. This anthology gathers personal essays recounting adventures great and small with children in the natural world.
The authorswriting as parents, teachers, mentors, and former childrendescribe experiences that range from bird watching to an encounter with an apple butter-loving grizzly bear. Rick Bass captures fireflies with his children and reflects on fatherhood; Michael Branch observes wryly that both gardening and parenting are “disciplines of sustainability”; Lauret Savoy wonders how African American children can connect to the the land after generations of estrangement; and Sandra Steingraber has “the big talk” with her children, not about sex but about global warming.
By turns lyrical, comic, and earnest, these writings guide us to closer connections with nature and with the children in our lives, for the good of the planet and our own spiritual and physical well-being.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780262516907 |
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Publisher: | MIT Press |
Publication date: | 02/17/2012 |
Series: | The MIT Press |
Pages: | 328 |
Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d) |
Age Range: | 18 Years |
About the Author
Stephen R. Kellert was Tweedy Ordway Professor Emeritus of Social Ecology at Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He was the author of a number of books, including Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection, and the coeditor of Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Foundations (MIT Press).
Stephen R. Kellert was Tweedy Ordway Professor Emeritus of Social Ecology at Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He was the author of a number of books, including Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection, and the coeditor of Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary Foundations (MIT Press).
Table of Contents
Preface xiii
Acknowledments xxi
Introduction 1
1 The Farm Rick Bass 25
2 MyChild's First Garden Michael P. Branch 33
3 Tracking Our Way James Bruchac Joseph Bruchac III 51
4 Tidal: Subtidal Susan A. Cohen 61
5 The Toad Not Taken Jeffrey S. Cramer 71
6 Of the Fittest Janine DeBaise 81
7 A New England Childhood Alison Hawthorne Deming 97
8 Child's Play: Finding the Green in the In-Between Carolyn Finney 107
9 The Naturalistic Necessity Stephen R. Kellert 113
10 Children in the Woods Barry Lopez 137
11 Fathers and Sons Richard Louv 141
12 Moving through the Landscape of Healing Stephen J. Lyons 149
13 Belonging on the Land David Mas Masumoto 155
14 A Field Guide to Wetern Birds Kathleen Dean Moore 165
15 At Home with Belonging Danyelle O'Hara 171
16 Animal Allies Brenda Peterson 181
17 Grandmother, Grizzlies, and God Brenda Peterson 189
18 Parents without Children: Confessions of a Favorite Uncle Robert Michael Pyle 197
19 Raising silas Janisse Ray 205
20 Grandma's Bawena Enrique Salmon 213
21 Mountain Music I Scott Russell Sanders 219
22 Bowl of Stones Chiori Santiago 231
23 Colored Memory Lauret Savoy 237
24 We Are Distracted Michael Shay 243
25 The Big Talk Sandra Steingraber 247
26 On Being "Indian", Unsilent, and Contaminated along the U.S.-Mexico Border Margo Tamez 251
27 The Prophets of Place Stephen Trimble 259
28 Huckleberry Country Michael Umphrey 265
29 Scorched Earth Rick Van Noy 271
30 Children in the River Gretel Van Wieren 277
Afterword 289
Credits 295
About the Contributors 299
What People are Saying About This
I would recommend Companions in Wonder to any parent, friend, teacher, or other adult seeking to nurture more confident and joyful children, children who are not freaked out to be outside, children who can draw on nature as a source of physical, emotional, cognitive, moral, and social development. In an increasingly digital world, this book proves there is still magic in fireflies, solace in a winter lake.
This is a superb and timely collection, filled with excellent contemporary writing on childhood and nature. I found all of the essays of great interest, covering a range of perspectives, unified by a common theme: how the milieu of place-based, outdoor learning is crucial to developmental well-being. I am particularly impressed with the multicultural, intergenerational depth of the book.
I would recommend Companions in Wonder to any parent, friend, teacher, or other adult seeking to nurture more confident and joyful children, children who are not freaked out to be outside, children who can draw on nature as a source of physical, emotional, cognitive, moral, and social development. In an increasingly digital world, this book proves there is still magic in fireflies, solace in a winter lake.
Chris Myers, Professor of Zoology and Director, Project Dragonfly, Miami University
This is a superb and timely collection, filled with excellent contemporary writing on childhood and nature. I found all of the essays of great interest, covering a range of perspectives, unified by a common theme: how the milieu of place-based, outdoor learning is crucial to developmental well-being. I am particularly impressed with the multicultural, intergenerational depth of the book.
Mitchell Thomashow, author of Bringing the Biosphere Home and Ecological IdentityI would recommend Companions in Wonder to any parent, friend, teacher, or other adult seeking to nurture more confident and joyful children, children who are not freaked out to be outside, children who can draw on nature as a source of physical, emotional, cognitive, moral, and social development. In an increasingly digital world, this book proves there is still magic in fireflies, solace in a winter lake.
Chris Myers, Professor of Zoology and Director, Project Dragonfly, Miami University