4 ways reading nature books benefits children

When I was growing up, I remember loving The Wind in the Willows—but for me, nature books really came into prominence when my own children appeared on the scene. They served to highlight the beauty and the magic of the natural world, and open our son and daughter’s young eyes to the wonders around them. Wonders they certainly discovered in national parks and local bushland—but also in their own backyard.

This was most true when it came to our trips to the beach.

Before every beach holiday, our regular plunder of picture books from the local library would inevitably feature stories of the ocean and seashore and all the fascinating creatures that make their home there. It’s not surprising that both our children became avid rock-hoppers.

Books like Rock Pool Secrets by Narelle Oliver can’t help but spark the imagination and curiosity of any young reader and excite in them a keen interest in the hidden treasures of the natural world.

We are certainly privileged and blessed to live in a country which possesses such amazingly unique and diverse flora and fauna. And what better way to showcase that to young Australians than through the power of stories and picture books.

From classics like Mem Fox’s Possum Magic and Jackie French’s Diary of a Wombat to recent publications like Johanna Bell and Eric Wagner’s beautiful tribute to our exquisite birdlife Hope is the Thing, books that focus on animals and the environment help forge not only a love and appreciation of the natural world, but also a desire to experience and interact with it first-hand.

Children’s nature stories such as Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker (threats to the Daintree) or Christina Booth’s One Careless Night (about the last Thylacine) and Welcome Home, Whales (on the dark history of whaling) tell both of the beauty and the fragility of the natural world. They raise awareness of the threat posed to nature by humans, and emphasise our duty to safeguard the precious ecosystems on which we all depend.

Nature books in general help connect young readers to the plants, animals and landscapes of Australia. It’s a connection that provides a strong link directly to our First Nations people and their essential oneness with the land. Children’s books by First Nations writers and illustrators themselves, such as Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy, further connect us all to Australia's cultural and natural heritage.

Like the “eco echoes” Boori Monty Pryor refers to in his beautiful book Story Doctors, nature books for children just might be the medicine we need to heal this land, and ourselves, and create a more hopeful future for us all.