Repost from @readingisourthing using @RepostRegramApp – We meet Moon as she is walking home from school with a large pile of books, pondering over the day and the long list of activities still to do. She wonders what it would be like to ignore the list and instead to be free and wild. Moon encounters something very wild—a wolf—a friendly wolf, who offers Moon a ride, introduces her to its pack and teaches her their wolfy ways. “How to pounce. How to play. How to howl. How to be still, how to listen and feel.” Moon returns home with a new windswept look and a sense of freedom, which she then passes on to her friends. . Stuck to the wall of her bedroom, my daughter has made herself a list of things that she needs to get done every morning before school. While I’m a list maker myself, I do wonder at times what it would be like to not be bound by the lists and commitments that we clutter our lives with. It’s the same for my daughter too. There are days where we throw away the lists, skip swimming lessons, forget about the mountains of washing, and go out and discover, do something wild. Those days get us through the many others that are non-stop, busy, ticking off the to-do kind of days. Those days encourage us to simplify our lives. . The story reminds us to connect with nature, to explore and play, to let kids be kids. Alison Oliver, author and illustrator of Moon, I’m sure you recognise the name, her style, well, she is also the illustrator of the BabyLit board books. Looking over Oliver’s work in Moon, I found myself thinking of Lane Smith’s There Is a Tribe of Kids. The main character in both stories is a wild, happy child searching for something, and texture is a beautiful feature. Everything about this book is beautiful—the choice of limited colours, the friendship between child and wolf, the mirroring, reflection and calmness throughout, and witnessing the wild lift Moon’s spirit. Reading it is a true joy. Moon, Alison Oliver. Publishes April 2018, Clarion Books. 4-8 years . Are you a list maker or a risk taker, or a little bit of both? How do you and your kids embrace the wild within? . . . . .