Wild Child

Book excerpt: Shortlisted for the 2022 Wainwright Prize for Nature & Conservation Writing for Children 2022 and the 2022 Edward Stanford Children's Travel Book of the Year Join Dara McAnulty, winner of the 2020 Wainwright Prize for Diary of a Young Naturalist, as he takes you on a multi-sensory journey of the natural world, starting just beyond your own front door. Illustrated in full-colour by Barry Falls, this beautiful gift book is divided into five chapters: looking out of the window, venturing out into the garden, walking in the woods, investigating heathland, and wandering along the riverbank. Describing each habitat in detail, Dara provides fantastic facts about the native birds, animals and plants you will find there, including wrens, blackbirds, butterflies, tadpoles, bluebells, bees, hen harriers, otters, dandelions, oak trees and many more. Each chapter contains a discovery section where you will get a closer look at natural phenomena such as metamorphoses and migration, categorization in the animal kingdom or become an expert on the collective nouns for birds. Additionally, each chapter ends with an activity to do when you get home. You will be shown how to make a bird feeder, try pond dipping, make a journey stick, and build a terrarium. Bursting with knowledge about the natural world and inspirational advice for young conservationists, Wild Child by Dara McAnulty is the perfect guide for aspiring young naturalists.