Includes bibliographical references (p. [317]-332) and index.

Louv talks with parents, children, teachers, scientists, religious leaders, child-development researchers, and environmentalists to find ways for children to experience the natural world more deeply.

pt. I. The new relationship between children and nature. Gifts of nature -- The third frontier -- The criminalization of natural play -- pt. II. Why the young (and the rest of us) need nature. Climbing the tree of health -- A life of the senses: nature vs. the know-it-all state of mind -- The "eighth intelligence" -- The genius of childhood: how nature nurtures creativity -- Nature-deficit disorder and the restorative environment -- pt. III. The best of intentions: why Johnnie And Jeannie don't play outside anymore. Time and fear -- The bogeyman syndrome redux -- Don't know much about natural history: education as a barrier to nature -- Where will future stewards of nature come from? -- pt. IV. The nature-child reunion. Bringing nature home -- Scared smart: facing the bogeyman -- Telling turtle tales: using nature as a moral teacher -- pt. V. The jungle blackboard. Natural school reform -- Camp revival -- pt. VI. Wonder land: opening the fourth frontier. The education of Judge Thatcher: decriminalizing natural play -- Cities gone wild -- Where the wild things will be: a new back-to-the-land movement -- pt. VII. To be amazed. The spiritual necessity of nature for the young -- Fire and fermentation: building a movement -- While it lasts.