Kith is Jay Griffiths's passionate polemic in defence of childhood In Kith Jay Griffiths seeks to discover why we deny our children the freedoms of space time & the natural world Visiting communities as far apart as West Papua & the Arctic as well as the UK & delving into history philosophy language & literature she explores how children's affinity for nature is an essential & universal element of childhood It is a journey deep into the heart of what it means to be a child & it is central to all our experiences young & old' Kith could have been written by no-one but Jay Griffiths It is ablaze with her love of the physical world & her passionate moral sense that goodness & a true relation with nature are intimately connected She has the same visionary understanding of childhood that we find in Blake & Wordsworth & John Clare would have read her with delight Her work isn't just good -- it's necessary' Philip Pullman ' Jay Griffiths writes with such richness & mischief about the one thing that could truly save the world its children' KT Tunstall' An impassioned visionary plea to restore to our children the spirit of adventure freedom & closeness to nature that is their birthright We must hear it & act on it before it is too late' Iain Mc Gilchrist Jay Griffiths is the author of Pip Pip A Sideways Look at Time; Wild An Elemental Journey; & A Love Letter from a Stray Moon a novella about the life of Frida Kahlo She is the winner of the inaugural Orion Book Award & of the Barnes & Noble Discover Award for the best new non-fiction writer to be published in the USA She has also been shortlisted for the Orwell Prize & the World Book Day award