Author: Jill Regensburg

Publisher: EarthWardProject

ISBN-10: 0998459607; ISBN-13: 978-0998459608

Ever feel tired of the seeming heartlessness of real estate developers, who, more often than not, tend to exploit people’s desire to have a nice home, but only at the expense of the environment? Then this delightful storybook about a lonely dandelion who desires to find a place that will welcome her as a rightful dweller on planet Earth might be just the thing to get both you and your young children out of the doldrums, and once more celebrating the benefits that can be attained through embracing a holistic lifestyle.

The Runaway Dandelion; Adventures in SustainAbility starts with the depredations brought to wildlife by excessive pesticide use, and ends with a joyful mutual cohabitation of human and nature. The story reads well, and is not at all preachy, even though the message is clear: only by caring for your environment can you really come to savor the sweetness of life as it should ideally be lived. The reader, which is in full color throughout, is illustrated with the cheerful and uplifting drawings of Leticia Plate, a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her portrayal of the facelessness of conventional suburbia, from which the eponymous dandelion flees, is particularly effective in contrast to her depiction of the exuberant faces of the family who have opted to live in an environmentally enhancing way, and in whose environs the dandelion ultimately finds herself at home, among friends.

The Runaway Dandelion; Adventures in SustainAbility should serve as the ideal classroom introduction to green living, with many of the key terms, such as mulching, solar panels and permaculture, being highlighted in the text, and glossed in an appendix. A clear description is also given of how to cook with dandelions, with their versatile nature enabling them to be added to a vast range of dishes, stretching from pasta to ice cream, as well as in such drinks as lemonade and iced tea. A helpful list is also provided of resources and links to useful websites, from which an educator can obtain additional information about living sustainably.

Jill Regensburg’s background, both as a Certified Permaculture (defined in the work as “a system of designing and creating indoor and outdoor spaces that mirror nature and are organic and sustainable”) Designer and as a Natural Foods Personal Chef and teacher, has positioned her perfectly to write a book of this nature. Her keen interest both in her natural environment and in the people who inhabit it has enabled her to convey her belief in the importance of developing and maintaining a sound relationship with Mother Earth, who requires nurturing and who sometimes receives only neglect, in a moving and joyful way that both parent and child should enjoy.