How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature by Scott D. Sampson

Abstract

Book Reviews 306 University of Colorado, where she worked with the Children, Youth and Environments Center for Community Engagement. How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature Scott D. Sampson (2015). Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 352 pages. $25.00; ISBN: 978-0544279322 Author “Dr. Scott” serves as science advisor and host of the popular children’s television animated science show, Dinosaur Train. He is a Canadian paleontologist who came to Utah to teach at the University of Utah and be a curator at the Natural History Museum in 1999. Sampson gave up us his tenured professorship in 2007 to move to California to teach public science programs and write because he was so concerned about how few children have deep connections with nature in this digital age. As he was writing How to Raise a Wild Child in 2013 he became an executive with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Sampson spent his childhood immersed in the temperate rain forest bordering Vancouver, British Columbia. Frogs, ferns, his best friend and family shared his love of nature that led to his career as a scientist. He wrote How to Raise a Wild Child to share with adults the many research-based reasons that time in nature is vital to well-being and to offer a guide to the ways one can introduce children to nature’s majesty and mysteries. The book is written for a general audience and well-researched regarding the child/nature relationship and existing international efforts to connect more children to nature. Citations at the book’s end can lead the curious reader to the original research and would be useful to anyone structuring a new children’s nature program. Additionally, his suggested outdoor activities for children and adults together form the start of a curriculum. Sampson weaves nature mentoring tips while recounting adventures with Jade, his own young daughter, as they explore the natural world together. Whether they are sharing a “sit spot” to observe birds in the backyard or an animal tracking expedition with an experienced mentor, these father/daughter scenarios offer guidance on what is possible to do nearby and further from home. He emphasizes the importance of offering children engaging sensory experiences, not a spelling list of scientific animal and plant names. He encourages questioning, not answering. Sampson frequently refers to Richard Louv’s book, Last Child in the Woods (2008) that raised the alarm about the child/nature disconnect in today’s urban world. How to Raise a Wild Child has similarities but is certainly worth reading even if one has read Louv’s earlier book. Book Reviews 307 Sampson describes international efforts to create more naturalized areas in cities and more nature-connected children and youth. Sampson sees cities as the realms where we can make a shift towards incorporating nature into daily life most successfully due to population density and the possibility of engaging youth in urban projects such as incorporating more native plants and trees to bring back native wildlife into existing parks, yards, open spaces and school grounds. He posits that if children can help with the “re-wilding” of modern cities, the children will feel more connected to what they helped to make happen. I recommend the book to parents, teachers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and anyone who works with children and wants the joy of discovering nature with a child as part of life. It doesn’t matter if the children are pre-schoolers or highschoolers . I went for a walk along a nearby river today with two of my granddaughters ages 8 and 9. Wynne found a big walking stick to help her navigate the river stepping-stones and Aisha found a hidden treasure of red currants to pick and eat. We all found joy in being outside together seeing what we could see, tasting the wild fruits, feeling the warm sun and cool breeze on our skin. Review by Illène Pevec Illène Pevec, Ph.D. is a research associate with the Children, Youth and Environments Program in the Center for Community Engagement at the University of Colorado and the program director for Fat...