June 2024 - Children still need a childhood with dirt, mud, puddles, trees, sticks, and tadpoles
June’s issue is about our past and present but also future, aka today’s children. I grew up playing in mud, puddles, trees, and with sticks and tadpoles; the quote is by author and mother Brooke Hampton. That’s how my kids grew up. And that’s what they’re teaching their toddlers to enjoy. It’s a generational thing in my family. We sweat, get dirty, and play. This experience teaches us about the world beyond walls. What’s that saying—something like: your child wouldn’t be bouncing off walls if they could get outside of them?
The other night I was talking with my sister, and she summoned a shared memory circa my junior high years, her middle-grade years. Dad took us kids white-water rafting on the Wolf River in Wisconsin, which we did often. Mom didn’t go on the raft due to our youngest brother being a baby. We got out on the water, and soon the skies darkened and a thunderstorm sprouted not too far away. We even heard tornado sirens in the distance. Back then, Dad was pretty nutty. I can still see his broad grin, belonging only to him, and hear his booming voice and laughter rising above the river rapids and rain. We stayed out on the river. He was the harbinger of joy, the teacher of play, the wild and crazy dad we miss dearly. I look back and am thankful for that childhood.
World eco-fiction spotlight
All outdoors experiences aren’t about happy play but about retreat from pain and finding healing in nature. This month we head to 1980s Oregon. I talked with Charlie J. Stephens—a queer, non-binary, mixed-race writer from the Pacific Northwest—about their novel A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest (Torrey House Press, 2024).
Smokey is figuring out how to survive childhood with a young mom who is increasingly desperate in her search for love. As their mother's boyfriends come and go, Smokey aches for the comfort and safety their mother can never quite provide. When a dangerous new man moves into the house, Smokey seeks refuge in the nearby forests—finding comfort as they give themselves over to the strength and beauty of the natural world.
Indie Corner
And some play makes it into fiction, imagined by the sweet observance of youth. This month I chatted with an amazing high school author and Stone Soup Book Award finalist Adrian So, whose debut novel, The Groundworld Heroes (Monarch Educational Services, 2024), is being published this summer.
Adrian’s story is inspired by play in his backyard in Winnipeg, something he started writing about at age 12. When Groundworld is on the brink of extinction, it takes one mole with courage to save the day. When Benjamin, a junior mole digger, witnesses a human invasion of his homeland, he must find his long-lost courage and unite two culturally distinct realms to fight the intruders and save his kind from extinction. What perils lie before him as he ventures into the unknown? Can Benjamin go up against a rough bunch of illegal animal trappers before it’s too late? Meet the Groundworld heroes as they defend their country’s sovereignty and save their fellow citizens from capture and extinction.
Book of the Month
Some childhood memories are nostalgic and require hope and defiance to bring back. Although it’s not all about childhood—the stories do occasionally cross time—my June read for the Rewilding Our Stories Discord’s book challenge is Different Kinds of Defiance (Android Press, 2024) by Renan Bernardo, who I found via the Discord. This anthology includes stories of resistance, defiance, and hope in and around Rio de Janeiro, and will be the world eco-fiction spotlight next month.
Different Kinds of Defiance is a collection of stories that are both tender and explosive, centering resistance towards bleak futures and inaction, collaboration and community, restoration, social justice, environmental impact, rebellions, and risked lives aimed at reparations all told through musical prose written by an experienced hand and polished voice.
Resources
In case you’ve missed these exciting resources, including newest books at Dragonfly, check ‘em out!
LinkTree: Find out more about me.
Rewilding Our Stories: A Discord community where you can find resources, reading, and writing fun in fiction that relates strongly to nature and environment.
Our environmental/nature song-of-the-week playlist goes back to 2015.
Book recommendations: a growing list of recs.
Eco/climate genres: They’re all over the place, and here’s an expanding compendium.
Inspiring and informative author quotes from Dragonfly’s interviews.
List of ecologically focused games.
List of eco/climate films and documentaries.
Eco-fiction links and resources.
Book database: Database of over 1,100 book posts at Dragonfly.eco.
Turning the Tide: The Youngest Generation: Fiction aimed toward children, teens, and young adults.
Indie Corner: The occasional highlight of authors who publish independently.
Artists & Climate Change. This site is no longer being updated but still has a wealth of info. I was a core writer for their team, and I’m both honored and grateful. Look for my “Wild Authors” series there.
Copyright 2024 Mary Woodbury