Go Wild!

Young people these days are often homebound, entertaining themselves with the Internet, television, video games, and text messages, but completely disconnected from the reality of the great outdoors. Many have never experienced simple pleasures such as telling stories around a warm campfire, camping outdoors, or whittling a stick. Go Wild! is the perfect book for families with children ages 10 to 14 wanting to get in touch with the natural world. The authors describe a range of wild and fun adventures for families to share. Readers learn potentially life-saving skills that give them confidence, independence, and a sense of environmental awareness. Topics include building shelter, building a fire, foraging for food, cooking outdoors, tools and weapons, bushcraft skills, water and keeping clean, and safety. From making a catapult to catching crayfish, creating fire without matches to constructing a tepee, Go Wild! is all about thrilling activities, amazing discoveries, and young people having the time of their lives in the great outdoors.

Fiona Danks is an environmental educator and author who works with her writing partner Jo Schofield to create beautiful books about the natural world. Fiona and Jo believe that reconnecting everyone with nature is vital if we are to understand our reliance on a healthy and biodiverse natural world, and ensure it is protected for the future. They believe that all children and families should regularly spend time outdoors in green spaces where nature can weave its magic upon them.
Together they have been writing and photographing the Going Wild books for the last fifteen years. Through their books and website, they inspire families everywhere to get outside and become immersed in the natural world. They have run events, lead training courses for teachers and environmental educators, presented at conferences as keynote speakers, written articles, and they are helping to build the Leaves for Life Campaign (@joinleavesforlife) to raise awareness of the ecological emergency. Their latest book Make This Book Wild was shortlisted for The Week Junior Book Awards for best Illustrated books.
They both live at the foot of the Chiltern Hills in South Oxfordshire, where they enjoy natural history, walking and exploring the local countryside. For more information on how to encourage children to go outdoors, visit Jo and Fiona's website - www.goingwild.net Jo Schofield gained a degree in psychology from Exeter University and began her career working for an educational psychologist in London. After getting involved in the production of a film, she went on to work in the creative department of a TV advertising agency where she began taking still photographs. This led on to her becoming a commercial photographer in Australia and then London. She worked mainly for national editorial magazines such as Country Living. When her children were small she worked in Watlington Primary School and the Dragon school in Oxford, applying her creative knowledge to the classroom with children aged 6-9 years. More recently she has been focusing on writing and photographing for a series of books with co-author Fiona Danks. Jo lives near Watlington in Oxfordshire.