Hi 👋 I’m Brooke Davis, the owner, author and chief Nature Warrior at Your Wild Books. We’re based in beautiful South Australia and we are a profit for purpose company established to improve the lives of young humans around the world by encouraging nature connection through play.
We officially published our first book in October 2019 and our second in September 2020. There are many more books to come and we hope you’ll share the adventure with us. If you’d like to know a little more about our path to get to this point, please read on.
In 2016, I established a nature play program called Wild Imagination. It started as a school holiday program to bring more kids into the outdoors and encourage free play in nature. It developed to also include incursions in schools, kindergartens and childcare centres, as well as nature activations at many large events like Adelaide Fringe, Science Alive, the Caravan and Camping Show and at the Adelaide Zoo. In the three years it was running, Wild Imagination saw more than 20,000 kids get stuck into nature play the Wild way. And in 2018 we won the award for Best Program at the City of Adelaide's Sport and Recreation Awards. It was a hugely successful and well-loved program. But there was something else calling me; a desire to bring nature play to even more children. This is when the idea of a book was born.
In March 2019, I started the journey to publish a nature play activity book for kids. I decided to self-publish the book and so I began learning everything I could about this new industry. I found an incredible photographer and we got started on the photos within weeks of making the agreement. I feel so privileged to have Megan Crabb as my main partner in this adventure! Her photography skills are exceptional and we share a vision for authentic excellence. Megan’s daughter Paige features in the book also, and they have both been a dream to work with.
To raise the funds for the first print run, we sought help from the public. After a hugely successful crowdfunding campaign in June 2019, the book titled Your Wild Imagination was released on 1 October 2019. It was everything we’d hoped and more and has since sold thousands of copies and continues to be a favourite with nature loving families around the world.
Megan and I continue to work together and in September 2020 we published our second book Your Wild Child. And there are plans for many more books to bring more nature into our lives. The reason I am publishing these books is the same reason why I started Wild Imagination in 2016 - the voice telling me kids need nature and play! And books seem to be the best way for me to do that. And now we can reach many more children, wherever they might be in geography, as well as on their learning and ability journey. Our books are about using the skills and materials that you have and being aware of your impact on the earth. And mostly it’s about connecting to nature through play.
Caring for the environment is ingrained in all aspects of the business. All the books are printed locally by Openbook Howden using sustainably sourced paper and vegetable-based inks. This helps to reduce transport emissions and chemical waste. We have a minimal packaging philosophy, and all parcels are packed using 100% recyclable materials. Website orders for our wonderful customers are sent in padded paper bags with the padding made from post-consumer newspaper waste. We also reuse and recycle any packaging that comes from our suppliers, so while the parcels aren’t wrapped in perfect bundles with paper and twine, we feel that minimal and recycled packaging is a much better outcome for the environment. Packaging for our wholesale orders is also 100% recyclable. We even use plastic free packing tape made from kraft paper with water activated gum adhesion to seal the boxes.
So that’s where the idea began. With a desire to get more kids immersed in the natural environment. The idea is that today’s kids get to spend their time more like we did when we were young; outside, exploring, creating and learning. With more green time and less screen time.
Whether we have met in person or not, and whether you have come along to an event or bought a book or not, thanks for finding this website and for reading this spiel. Your support means so much.
Brooke Davis