The children and nature movement is fueled by this fundamental idea: the child in nature is an endangered species, and the health of children and the health of the Earth are inseparable. --Richard Louv, from the new edition

In his landmark work Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv brought together cutting-edge studies that pointed to direct exposure to nature as essential for a child's healthy physical and emotional development. Now this new edition updates the growing body of evidence linking the lack of nature in children's lives and the rise in obesity, attention disorders, and depression. Louv's message has galvanized an international back-to-nature campaign to Leave No Child Inside. His book will change the way you think about our future and the future of our children.

[The] national movement to 'leave no child inside' . . . has been the focus of Capitol Hill hearings, state legislative action, grass-roots projects, a U.S. Forest Service initiative to get more children into the woods and a national effort to promote a 'green hour' in each day. . . . The increased activism has been partly inspired by a best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods, and its author, Richard Louv. --The Washington Post

Last Child in the Woods, which describes a generation so plugged into electronic diversions that it has lost its connection to the natural world, is helping drive a movement quickly flourishing across the nation. --The Nation's Health

This book is an absolute must-read for parents. --The Boston Globe
Now includes
A Field Guide with 100 Practical Actions We Can Take
Discussion Points for Book Groups, Classrooms, and Communities
Additional Notes by the Author
New and Updated Research from the U.S. and Abroad

[The] national movement to 'leave no child inside' . . . has been the focus of Capitol Hill hearings, state legislative action, grass-roots projects, a U.S. Forest Service initiative to get more children into the woods and a national effort to promote a 'green hour' in each day. . . . The increased activism has been partly inspired by a best-selling book, Last Child in the Woods, and its author, Richard Louv. --The Washington Post

Last Child in the Woods, which describes a generation so plugged into electronic diversions that it has lost its connection to the natural world, is helping drive a movement quickly flourishing across the nation. --The Nation's Health

This book is an absolute must-read for parents. --The Boston Globe

An honest, well-researched and well-written book, . . . the first to give name to an undeniable problem. --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

One of the most thought-provoking, well-written books I've read in recent memory. It rivals Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. --The Cincinnati Enquirer

Important and original. . . . As Louv so eloquently and urgently shows, our mothers were right when they told us, day after day, 'Go out and play.' --The Christian Science Monitor

Last Child in the Woods is the direct descendant and rightful legatee of Rachel Carson's The Sense of Wonder. But this is not the only thing Richard Louv has in common with Rachel Carson. There is also this: in my opinion, Last Child in the Woods is the most important book published since Silent Spring. --Robert Michael Pyle, author of Sky Time in Gray's River

A single sentence explains why Louv's book is so important: 'Our children, ' he writes, 'are the first generation to be raised without meaningful contact with the natural world.' This matters, and Last Child in the Woods makes it patently clear why and lays out a path back. --The Ecologist

With this scholarly yet practical book, Louv offers solutions today for a healthier, greener tomorrow. --Washington Post Book World

The simplest, most profound, and most helpful of any book I have read on the personal and historical situation of our children, and ourselves, as we move into the twenty-first century. --Thomas Berry, author of The Dream of the Earth