The Not So Great Outdoors

A reluctant camper discovers that the (not-so) great outdoors can be just as exciting as screens and skyscrapers in this playful picture book celebration of the pleasures of unplugging and embracing nature. What's so great about the "great outdoors"? A grumpy urban kid begrudgingly accompanies her family on a summer camping trip, missing all the sublime sights right under her nose as she longs for the lights and stimulation of the city. But as she explores forests, lakes and mountains, and encounters bears, beavers and caribou, she slowly comes to realize that the simpler things are just as sparkly, that the sky is its own majestic light show, and the symphony is all around. The Not-So Great Outdoors is a humorous and richly imagined reminder of the beauty and magic that can be found away from the city and our screens.

An immigrant family embarks on their first camping trip in the Midwest in this lively picture book by Ambreen Tariq, outdoors activist and founder of @BrownPeopleCamping Fatima Khazi is excited for the weekend. Her family is headed to a local state park for their first camping trip! The school week might not have gone as planned, but outdoors, Fatima can achieve anything. She sets up a tent with her father, builds a fire with her mother, and survives an eight-legged mutant spider (a daddy longlegs with an impressive shadow) with her sister. At the end of an adventurous day, the family snuggles inside one big tent, serenaded by the sounds of the forest. The thought of leaving the magic of the outdoors tugs at Fatima's heart, but her sister reminds her that they can keep the memory alive through stories--and they can always daydream about what their next camping trip will look like. Ambreen Tariq's picture book debut, with cheerful illustrations by Stevie Lewis, is a rollicking family adventure, a love letter to the outdoors, and a reminder that public land belongs to all of us.

Join a curious pack of woodland animals as they try to understand what art is and create their own in this beautiful, playful picture book. Pine Marten loves watching Human doing peculiar things in its log nest in the woods. One day, she notices Human putting colors on a board using a furry stick. Pine Marten learns from Chickadee that Human is actually "an artist" and is busy "making art." But what is art? Soon all of the animals in the forest are wondering: why is Human doing this? Is it a warning? Is it looking for a mate? Is there any meaning at all? And if Human can make "art," why can't the animals do it too? Outside Art is a gorgeous and gently humorous exploration of art, creativity and nature by up-and-coming author-illustrator Madeline Kloepper.

When David Sobel’s children were toddlers, he set out to integrate a wide range of nature experiences into their family life, play, and storytelling. Blending his passion as a parent with his professional expertise, he created adventures tailored to their developmental stages: cultivating empathy with animals in early childhood, exploring the woods in middle childhood, and devising rites of passage in adolescence. This book is Sobel’s vivid and moving memoir of their journey and an inspiring guide for other parents who seek to help their children bond with the natural world. As we share this family's experiences, we observe how wild play in nature hones a sense of wonder, provides healthy challenges, and nurtures Earth stewardship-and we share Sobel’s joy as his children, Eli and Tara, grow into earthbound, grounded young adults. Richard Louv’sLast Child in the Woodsidentified the urgent problem of “nature deficit” in today’s children, sounding the alarm for parents, educators, and policy makers.Wild Playis a hopeful response, offering families myriad ways to blaze their own trails; it should become another classic in this field.

“Leonard’s durable tome (seriously, the cover is rubber) is stuffed with so many tips about surviving in the wild, you’ll be able to leave your smartphone behind.” —Entertainment Weekly, Best New Books This easy introduction to outdoor life will ensure that even a novice won’t get lost in the woods while finding an activity he loves to do in the great outdoors--whether it’s hiking a 14er or camping on ice. With 400 strategies for engaging in the outdoors, and expert tips and tricks, Surviving the Great Outdoors makes Mother Nature easier to understand than ever before. Brendan Leonard, writer, filmmaker, and outdoor adventurer, shows the reader how rewarding it can be to live life away from the computer and get outside. From mountain climbing, to skiing, sledding, and sailing, Leonard shows that you don’t need to be a risk taker to enjoy the outdoors. And if the reader does find himself at the point of man vs. nature, Leonard shares survival skills from how to bandage a wound and read a topographical map, to how to drive on sand and remove a tick from your skin—all organized thematically and written in short takeaway entries with helpful line drawings. Bound in a uniquely rugged (and waterproof!) PVC cover material, Surviving the Great Outdoors is a friendly way into the outdoor lifestyle, whether you're looking to dabble or go all in.

A Perfect Bedtime Story, Whether You’re Under a Roof or Under the Stars Gather the children. Cuddle into a warm sleeping bag. It’s time to fall asleep. This gentle, calming story celebrates the wonders of the great outdoors by saying goodnight to nature. As the sun sets, the family prepares their campsite for nightfall. “Goodnight hills, and goodnight clean air. Goodnight creatures everywhere.” The soft, rhyming text complements dream-like illustrations, creating a picture book that’s just right for winding down. So spend your days playing and exploring. With Goodnight Great Outdoors, you have bedtime covered.

Building on relational conceptualizations of enactment and on developmental research that attests to the role of embodied, nonverbal language in the meanings children impute to their experiences, Sebastiano Santostefano offers this compelling demonstration of effective child therapy conducted in the “great outdoors.” Specifically, he argues that, for the child, traumatic life-metaphors should be resolved at an embodied rather than an exclusively verbal level; they should be resolved, that is, as they are enacted between child and therapist. To this end, child and therapist must take advantage of all the indoor and outdoor environments available to them. As they take therapy to nontraditional places, relying on the nonverbal vocabulary they have constructed together, they move toward enacted solutions to relational crises, solutions that revise the child’s sense of self and ability to form new and productive relationships.