Today on Growing Up with Books – may I invite you to embrace your wilderness?
Dear friend! Welcome to a new post in Growing up with Books. Today I am writing about The Wildest Thing by Emily Winfield Martin. This beautiful book for ages 3-7 years won my heart from the moment I saw the cover. A little girl peeking out of a lush green bush, the shadows of a rabbit in her eyes… it’s the perfect picture of curiosity, observation, and wilderness. When I first read this gorgeous book, my daughter wasn’t yet not ready to read it but I couldn’t wait for her to turn these pages.
The Wildest Thing is the story of Eleanor.
She loves wild things, whether it is butterfly, a flower or a critter. She knows there is something wild inside of her and it comes out in the harmony she feels in nature, in the art she draws and how she spends her days.
One morning, she wakes her to find the Wild has come into her house. She goes about the day as per usual – she has her breakfast on the couch and gets dressed for the day but something propels her to be freer than ever before, to be wilder than she is supposed to be.
Already here, I can see that Eleanor knows that there are certain ways she is expected and supposed to be. But now that the Wild is here, in her home, she is able to embrace that side of herself.
In The Wildest Thing, she runs, carves her own path, she imagines, she plays, she hangs out with animals, unafraid.
There is this one spread in particular where Eleanor is shown doing many actions – pouncing, flopping, hopping, prowling, flipping,… and I want to do them with her! I can imagine my daughter and I imitating Eleanor, channelling her wilderness into ourselves.
It’s not all a positive adventure though. With play and exploration comes hurt, even anger when things don’t go Eleanor’s way and I absolutely love how the art portrays it all.
After what feels like hours of the wild, she is exhausted and returns to her bed.
The Wildest Thing, to me, is a book about embracing who we are. Eleanor’s adventures with the Wild happen in that sweet time between falling asleep and waking up. Dreams are a pathway into our subconscious mind and desires. In her dreams, she is free to be the Wild and to let the Wild in. As a reader, I am on this journey with her. I get to be wild alongside her, joining her in tea parties with the animals and drawing art on the walls. Just reading this book rekindles my own wild side and I ask myself what do I really want to do right now?
At the time of writing this, I have had this book for 6 months and I read this book at least three times. I love returning to it. I love the art and the message and in every reread, I experience a different aspect of my Wild. I want to be Eleanor and I also want my daughter to be Eleanor. I can’t wait for us to read this together and I look forward to the day when she will reach for this book herself. I believe The Wildest Thing will be one of her favourite books.
I had hoped to welcome Emily Winfield Martin to the blog and chat with her about this book, but it didn’t work out.
What transpired in that liminal space of letting go of waiting for answers and finding the time to share this in Growing up with Books, my daughter and I made a trip to my personal library. At 20 months of age, Serai reached for The Wildest Thing. We read it twice together and, as I had wished, we loved it! I showed her how to howl like a wolf and she did. Our cat, Dantes, sat with us as we read. He brought his side of the wild, purring by our side. It was a lovely time!
If you are called to the wild by this book review, find the book on Goodreads, your local library and whenever books are sold.
This post is part of Growing up with Books, a series where I document the tiny, tender, surprising reading life unfolding beside me. It is a miniature library within the larger story of my reading life.
Many thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book.
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