posted on 23 Jul 2018

Run Wild by Gill Lewis

Award-winning children’s novelist, Gill Lewis describes herself on her website as “ (a) children’s author, vet, wildlife enthusiast and tree-house dweller” and so it’s not at all surprising that she’s teamed-up with the marvellous Barrington Stoke and Rewilding Britain to bring us a tale of wild Britain in urban spaces.

In Run Wild she tells us the enthralling story of how two young girls, Izzy and Asha, and Izzy’s younger brother Connor, encounter a wolf in a disused gasworks building and how the experiences changes their lives. Izzy and Asha are there to learn how to pull off some skateboard tricks that will put the Skull brothers, Luke and Scott, in their place but end up finding themselves on the same side as their antagonists when it comes to protecting this now wild urban space from the redevelopers.

I don’t want to give away the story of the children and their wolf because that would spoil your enjoyment but what I can say is that the story is as much about exciting encounters with nature in all its forms rather than just a story about an urban wolf. We get to discover some of the facts and myths about the wolf but we also discover information about rare farting beetles, sea birds that look like dinosaurs and just how wonderful it is to run barefoot on grass and earth that hasn’t been covered in concrete or asphalt.

Most of all, this book is an impassioned plea for the need to reconnect with wild places and, especially in urban landscapes, to think less about what last ounce of profit can be made from developing land and to focus instead on just how important wilderness is to our sense of wellbeing.

Gill Lewis is a seasoned storyteller and spins exciting and engaging tales. This one is guided by the publishers for those over 8 years old but I suspect that much younger children would love the story if they read it with an adult. There is, I think, for most us who come from northern climes, still a residual tribal memory of the awesome power of the wolf and stories of encounters with these fabulous beasts always thrill the reader – something which is captured to perfection on the front cover artwork which silhouettes a howling wolf against an urban backdrop.

I come from a generation that all seem to have fond memories of long hours spent in semi-wild spaces just taking time with friends to discover what nature is like. I grew up in very urban Birmingham but even then it was still possible to find a bluebell wood or undeveloped stretch of land where we could run wild and I still think of those days as hugely formative times.

So, I for one would be glad to see the rewilding of some of Britain’s urban spaces but perhaps, even more importantly, I’d like to see this land taken out of private ownership and put back into community control and made, once again, into genuinely common land. Books like Run Wild are important because they can introduce the next generation to the idea that there are some things that are more significant than profit and we should all say hurrah to that.

 

Terry Potter

July 2018