When We Went Wild is a retelling of the wilding of the author's estate, Knepp Castle in West Sussex written and illustrated for children. Due out 1st June 2021 from Quarto on their Ivy Kids imprint, it's 32 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is such a beautifully illustrated, exciting, and encouraging book for kids and their teachers, families, and facilitators. It's very simple but shows the concepts clearly and understandably for even very young readers. The author explains some of the concepts, and mentions regenerative farming, rewilding, and resource equity in the afterword which could prove a good starting point for very valuable conversations with our children or in a classroom setting.
The book is beautifully and simply illustrated with a wealth of subtle detail and colour. There are insects, animals, and wildflowers on almost every page. It's never directly referenced in the text, but I appreciated that the human characters are multi-ethnic. Representation is important. (I like that the author and illustrator didn't make a huge deal out of it; but it's nice to see, nevertheless).
This would make a good selection for public or school library or home. It's a heartening story and has a happy ending, but not without dramatic tension in the telling.
Five stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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