With almost 300 footnotes, a 14-page bibliography, and an extensive index, you might mistakenly think you’re getting a dry academic tome with little in the way of practical information. But in fact, those scholarly aspects reveal the strong foundation underlying this well-thought-out practical guide to helping parents, teachers, and others be nature mentors.
The book begins with two chapters that describe the problem of disconnection from nature, and highlight the importance of connection to place. While some readers will want to skip ahead to the more hands-on chapters that follow (and this is an invitation from the author himself in his introduction), I found the early chapters thought-provoking and important for appreciating the larger context of the book.
The remainder of the book approaches many facets of fostering nature connection, and includes a diversity of short nature mentoring tips, more in-depth discussions of key challenges and solutions, and substantive anecdotes (including many involving the author and his daughter.)
Some topics that stand out as being particularly well-addressed: the balance between protecting nature versus promoting exploration and hands-on play and creativity in nature; the importance of “people connection” in concert with “nature connection;” the role of nature play, and creativity in and with nature; how mentors can lead by example by strengthening their own connection with nature; how developmental stages of childhood invite different approaches to nature connection; and how technology can be used as a tool, rather than having to be an obstacle to connecting with nature.
I highly recommend this book, for newcomers to the field of nature connection who are looking for practical techniques, as well as for people already well-versed in the topic who will enjoy an in-depth treatment of some of the challenges as well as emerging solutions and research underpinnings.
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