The Wild Before by Piers Torday
We have a blog from Piers Torday all about his interest in wildlife throughout his life. Another perfect link to our National Share A Story Month theme!
I grew up in the valleys and moors of rural Northumberland, and my own curiosity about the natural world was fostered by the classic children’s books I enjoyed set in the wild, where the landscape could be both a beautiful but thrilling place.
Whether it was Mole getting lost in the dark woods in Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows, or the rabbits Bigwig and Hazel battling the terrifying General Woundwort in Richard Adams’ Watership Down, I realised that not only was nature red in tooth and claw, but that for wild animals, danger is often only a wingbeat away.
Those books awakened my interest in wildlife as a young reader.
I took it all for granted – that the wildlife on the page would be all around me, forever.
But returning home as an adult to the same county, I found a very different scene. There was far less wildlife in the woods, fields and streams. The world I knew was under threat. A WWF study would later confirm that between 1970 and now, we lost over 60% of the wildlife on this planet.
Our world is changing, and as recent extreme weather events have shown, far quicker than anyone expected.
I wrote The Last Wild trilogy to explore this change for children and fill them with hope that a better, more sustainable world can still be made. My latest book, a prequel to that series, The Wild Before, is my latest call to action.
The Wild Before is a story about a young hare, Little Hare, who lives near a farm, and one unexpectedly snowy night, discovers an extraordinary, silver coloured newborn calf. He learns that if he doesn’t protect this “Mooncalf”, something terrible will happen to the farm, the animals he loves and the precious landscape that is his home. It’s a love song to the British countryside and a book for young people about finding resilience and hope in the toughest of times.
From bird song to wild flowers, trees to hedgerows, hares to butterflies, I think the first step in writing about our natural world is to celebrate it. I want my readers to care for our ecosystem almost as a character in itself.
When I write eco-fiction for children, I don’t want them to be anxious. But I do want them to be active and engaged, and I want them to know – like my hare, little for his kind, that they are never, ever, too small to make a difference.
There are more of us children’s writers than ever before carrying the same message in our books, from Nicola Davies’s wonderful picture books to Hannah Gold’s heart wrenching animal adventures.
Whether we offer hope, education or practical advice, always alongside a page-turning tale, children’s eco writers know that stories alone won’t change the world. But they might.
As Little Hare ultimately discovers – it only takes one brave soul to be inspired to stand up and call out the truth, and others will follow.
Piers Torday
May 2025
