Explodapedia: Rewild - Can Nature heal Our World?

Rewild - Can Nature Heal our World is an excellent book from the new David Fickling 'Explodapedia' series. It is equally interesting for older children and young adults and approaches the issues of climate change through the solution of nature.

The chapters explore different aspects of the natural world such as wolves, beavers, trees and farming using evidence to explain ways in which effective change can be made and what the results would be, should it be implemented, or examples of where it has been used with positive effect. This enables the reader to dip into chapters independently, although the sum of the book's message is most effective when read in its entirety.

The chapters are subdivided into sections with clear headings. The book is supported by a comprehensive glossary and illustrated by pictoral diagrams and illustrations by Moose Allain. The final chapters offer practical advice and information for the reader, encouraging readers to consider how they can be part of the solution and the messages are delivered in a clear non patronising way which will appeal to students.

The book has been written in a mature way which will appeal to older children and teenagers who are moving on from the more child-orientated ecology books. The illustrations do not rely on bright colours with comic characters. Rather, the black line drawings complement the text without dominating the pages, encouraging the reader to retrieve information from the text. The people used in the drawings are diverse and the cover is also mature and understated with a slight sheen on the creatures, offering a minimal yet eye-catching tableau suggesting the rewilding of the urban landscape.

Highly recommended. I anticipate the series will be a great addition to non fiction in secondary school libraries and with their attractive, similar covers, I would shelve them as forward-facing for maximum impact.

176 pages / Reviewed by Ruth Cornish, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 11+

The latest in the excellent 'Explodapedia' series, Rewild: Can Nature heal Our World? is a very engaging and accessible read. Guided by cartoons of chatty and cheeky fungi, the book carefully explains the idea behind rewilding as well as why is it so important in a humorous and entertaining style.

Incredibly readable, Rewild is bursting with current information and thinking on this fascinating topic. Whilst making the role of humans in the current state of nature abundantly clear, the tone of the book is overwhelmingly positive, full of hope for the future.

Each chapter tackles a different issue with plenty of diagrams to support understanding of ideas such as food chains and Suzanne Simard's experiments. Terms like 'land-sparing' and 'permafrost' are carefully and clearly explained, developing the reader's comprehension of the issues explored - perfect for the non-specialist keen to discover more!

As with the other titles in the series, Ben Martynogo's enthusiasm for this subject and desire to share this with others shines through on every page. An excellent read!

176 pages / Ages 12+ / Reviewed by Sue Wilsher, teacher

Suggested Reading Age 11+

On first appearances, I supposed Explodapedia: Rewild - Can Nature heal Our World? would appeal more to adults and doubted whether primary school children would have the stamina to read it. However, I now think it will not only interest but excite some youngsters - those who are already 'into' nature, as well as those on school EcoCouncils and even others, perhaps, if teachers decide to dip into the book when studying food chains or habitats for the Science curriculum.

The information is presented using appealing and unusual examples (Blue Whales' pink poo, cute mammophants, marinated maggots, etc), with author and illustrator both using humour to lighten the intellectual and emotional load (p.94,95 for example). The illustrations are also very helpful in explaining concepts like trophic pyramids, keystone species, flying rivers and the wood wide web, many of which will be new to readers, as they were to me.

That there is such a lot to learn is another feature of Rewild which will appeal to the curious, whether inclined towards science or not. The concluding index and glossary may prove useful for the information retrieval and as an aide memoire.

We are left in no doubt that the human species has wrought huge damage and now faces huge challenges. No punches are pulled: climate change and biodiversity loss threaten our very existence. But there is a constant injection of hope, with dire facts interspersed with some of the intriguing discoveries committed ecologists have made. Indeed, the book ends by planting hope, rather than gloom, in young readers' minds. Things can be different, better, if we rewild. Thoroughly recommended.

176 pages / Reviewed by Jane Rew, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 9+