She encourages kids to go "from screen time to green time" and spend more time in nature.

Doing so supports emotional regulation, reduces anxiety, improves attention, and increases prosocial behavior.

The simplicity of this beautifully written story makes it makes it appealing to a wide range of kids.

Atkins' new kids book has many life lessons not only for kids but also for all people of all ages.

Ample research clearly shows there are many benefits associated with getting youngsters outside so they can experience all sorts of nature.1 Among these benefits is the rewilding the lives of youngsters are included: It builds confidence, promotes creativity and imagination, teaches responsibility, gets them moving and provides different sorts of motor skills, makes them think, and reduces stress and fatigue. It's also usually simple to do, inexpensive, and fun.

Furthermore, among the many life lessons associated with getting kids into nature are the development of connections and relationships with different animals and flora along with empathy and compassion for the lives of other-than-human beings. Children are curious naturalists and we need to teach them well.

Whenever I think of the positive ubiquity of getting kids outside, I think of Richard Louv's seminal ideas about and research into that he calls Nature Deficit Disorder. I also fondly remember my parents always saying in a thoroughly caring way, "You can never spend too much time outdoors, so get out of here." I'm sure that tons of outdoor time was very important in my becoming a field ethologist, athlete, and spending most of my life working for animal and environmental well-being.

For these and other reasons and the importance of early childhood education in shaping lives and values in all sorts of venues, I was thrilled to learn of Dr. Dale Atkins' new kids book Dear Deer in which two children who are exploring the wonders of the wild "learn valuable lessons about compassion, patience, empathy, tuning into their senses, and the delicate balance of nature."

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write Dear Deer?

Dale Atkins: An........

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