The Geography of Childhood:
Why Children Need Wild Places
|
|
words by Stephen Trimble and Gary Paul Nabhan
photographs by Stephen Trimble
introduction by Robert Coles
|
|
|
|
School Library Journal "Top Ten Non-Fiction Books of 1994"
|
|
|
n this unique collaboration, two naturalists ask what may happen now that more children are denied exposure to wildness than at any other time in human history. The authors remember pivotal events in their own childhoods that led each to a lifelong relationship with the land. They tell stories of children learning about wild places and creatures in settings ranging from cities and suburbs to isolated Nevada sheep ranches to Native American communities in the Southwest and Mexico.
Combining their flair for natural history essays with research from fields as diverse as environmental psychology, gender studies, and ethnobotany, Trimble and Nabhan give parents looking for inspiration a guide for their next adventure, whether it's family camping in the wilderness or at the beach, or an hour in their backyard garden. |
|
|
| "As a scholar and writer, I admire the way Nabhan and Trimble blend the personal and the scholarly, combining childhood stories with information gathered from their research in such fields as educational and environmental psychology, anthropology, and biology. …What they do is a wonderful example of "narrative scholarship."
" |
| Ian Marshall, American Nature Writing Newsletter |
|
|
| "…provocative and compelling." |
| Francesca Lyman, Los Angeles Times Book Review |
|
|
| "Less a reasoned argument than a collection of ideas, anecdotes, and meditations on our relationship with the land, this book raises fundamental questions about the ways in which we teach our children to become responsible citizens." |
| Christopher Merrill, El Palacio |
|
|
| "In their seminal book… Nabhan and Trimble successfully present an engaging poetics of childhood…and a cohesive theory and practice for integrating children and nature. " |
| Mark Francis, Community Greening Review |
|
|
| "...two wise, knowing naturalists give us a glimpse of what children are and what they urgently need. The "geography" boys and girls ultimately want to explore and comprehend is that of life itself...and it is such a "geography" that the reader of this compelling, suggestive book will soon enough encounter--an original glimpse, most certainly, of our children as very much a part of what gets called the environment." |
| Robert Coles, from the introduction |
|
|
| "This is a passionate book, filled with the love of two fathers who know how to listen to children--their own and others--and to the earth. Every parent, every person shoud read it." |
| Teresa Jordan, author of Riding the White Horse Home |
|
|
| "I believe The Geography of Childhood: Why Children Need Wild Places could become as important a book as Leopold's A Sand County Almanac or Carson's Silent Spring because it may launch a renewed interest in understanding why children who develop loving bonds with fellow creatures and the land most often grow into responsible adult citizens." |
| Charles Yaple, director, Coalition for Education in the Outdoors |
