WILD CHILD
written by Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Greg Couch
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1999

"Time for bed," Mother Earth said.
"Not for a while," said her wild child.
"A song, first.
I need a song
to play in my head
before going to bed."
So Mother Earth
gave her child a song…
Crinkle, crackle,
leaves snapple.
Chutter, chatter,
chipmunks patter.
Flap, flitter,
birds twitter.
Skitter, scatter,
acorns splatter.
And such was the song
to play in her head.

About the Book

And so begins the story of the wild child, Autumn, and her mother, Mother Earth. Autumn continues making excuses why she can't go to bed—she needs a snack, PJs, a kiss. Mother Earth relents each time, answering her child's request in a special fall way; until, finally, Mother Earth gets her daughter to sleep—only to have her son Winter wake up, bouncing on the bed.

Reviews

American Booksellers Association Kids Pick of the Lists-1999 . . . The combination of Plourde's lyrical verse and Couch's vibrant and ethereal illustrations make this a must for any fall reading list.

Kirkus . . . The change of seasons from fall to winter makes a captivating bedtime story as Mother Nature tries to tuck in her wild child, Autumn. Couch's absorbing illustrations match the allegorical aspect of the poetic text, and both transport readers with images of unusual clarity and depth.

Horn Book . . . The swirling text, which uses rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and made-up words ("Puckery, smuckery, crimsony cranberries"), rarely hits a false note. The lush, gauzy illustrations capture both autumn's colors and the haziness that precedes sleep.

School Library Journal . . . Washes of liquid acrylic in warm browns, greens, and russets fill each double-page spread; the monumental Mother is molded from mountains with tresses of sun-streaked clouds. Autumn is attired in flaming foliage-a whirling dervish of energy. Plourde's inventive rhythm and rhyme keep step with the activity in the forests and fields. Both storytime audiences and individual readers will delight in detecting the changing form and palette used to depict Mother Earth as time passes, and they will rejoice that just as Autumn drifts off to sleep, another child appears: Winter! Pair this with Chris Van Allsburg's The Stranger (Houghton, 1986) for a program presenting intriguing fall personalities. Wild Child will go "a-swooshing" and "a-swirling" off of your shelves.

Children's Literature . . . a lovely well-told story that emphasizes the seasonal characteristics of autumn while hinting at the circular rhythm of the seasons throughout the year

Chinaberry . . . a picture book that's a breath of fresh air . . . utterly unique in both illustrations and text

Honors

American Booksellers Kids Pick of the Lists, 1999
Lupine Honor Award from Maine Library Association, 1999
Michigan Reader's Choice Award Nominee, 2001
Growing Kids Classic Book by Junior Master Gardener Program & American Horticultural Society, 2005

Learning Activities

· In Wild Child, the season of autumn is personified as a little girl who doesn't want to go to bed. The human characteristics she is given match her season; and so, her pajamas look like fall leaves and her bedtime snack is the fall bounty of apples, pumpkins, and cranberries. Try personifying another part of nature, such as: mountains, a rainbow, a river, a tree, a volcano, etc. Tell a story for those parts of nature which remain true to their characteristics.

· Compare Wild Child with its sequels: Winter Waits, Spring's Sprung, Summer's Vacation. Make a list of as many similarities and differences as you can between the books—considering both the words and the illustrations.

· Create a "wild child" collage by using fall objects (leaves, acorns, etc.) and gluing them onto paper; add details with crayons or markers as you want.

· Do a "fall" dance using scarves the color of autumn leaves and moving creatively (blowing in the wind, floating slowly to the ground, being raked into a pile of leaves, etc.).

Story Behind the Story

Lynn Plourde's daughter, Kylee, looking like a "wild child" as a toddler

Children ask me how I came to write Wild Child—well, actually, it was sort of like an assignment (just like teachers give students assignments). The editor of my first published picture book, Pigs in the Mud in the Middle of the Rud, asked me if I would write a "fall" story. I didn't know if I could, but I said I would try. After all, fall is my favorite season. I live in Maine where autumns are glorious with the air so crisp and trees throwing colorful leaf confetti everywhere. Plus my birthday is in autumn, October 1st; so maybe that's why it's my favorite season.

Whatever the reason, I LOVE autumn and was anxious to write a story about it. But it wasn't easy. For two years, I wrote different versions of fall stories (Fall into Fall, The Song of Fall), but none of them worked.

Finally, the "mother" in me stepped forward. I remembered how hard it was to get my own kids to bed when they were little. I thought "what if"—What if Autumn was a naughty little girl who wouldn't go to bed? What if her mother was Mother Earth who had to find a way to get Autumn to bed—otherwise Winter would never come?
Once I had the idea to personify the season of Autumn I knew the story was on the right track; and I must have been right, because that version of the story was published as Wild Child.

Lynn Plourde's "wild" daughter, Kylee, on the same rocking horse as a teenager

Wild Child actually went through much less editing than most of my other picture books (perhaps because I'd already been working on it for two years!). But the editor of the book did make one major suggestion that was included in the final book. Originally, I'd ended the book on the next-to-the last page of the final book when Mother Earth gets Autumn to sleep. But my editor said I needed to tell about the next child, Winter, getting up—she didn't tell me which words to use, just the idea. But it was a terrific idea, and I can't imagine the book without that final page (but I never would have thought of that idea on my own—I'm a firm believer that editors plus art directors are as invaluable to the creation of picture books as are the authors and illustrators. Wild Child is a perfect example of how well publishing teamwork works!).

Speaking of teamwork, I still pinch myself to this day that Greg Couch illustrated the story. He works in acrylic wash and colored pencils (with some salt & cleansers thrown in for good measure!). The first time I saw the illustrations for Wild Child, I cried—they were so, so beautiful. I'm a verbal person, not a visual person; and so I never, ever could have imagined what the illustrations would look like. Children ask me if it looked like what I'd expected. I say "no"—it looks sooooooo much better.

I dedicated Wild Child to my own "wild child" Kylee. When she was a toddler, we called her "wild woman" because she'd run all around the house after a bath, without any clothes on, while making growling noises. Now that she's a teenager, she doesn't like me telling that story—so sssshhhhhhh!