Love in the Wild is a colorful celebration of love in the animal kingdom, a perfect board book to read to a child snuggled on your lap.
Katy Tanis’s gently rhyming text takes the reader through a variety of animal scenarios found in real life, including holding paws, nuzzling necks, hitching rides, playing peek-a-boo, and hide-and-seek. She also shows examples of same sex couples raising wee ones, non-binary gender expression (check out that butterfly!), and animals accepting others who are born looking or acting different from their species in some way.
Let’s hear it for diversity and compassion in the animal kingdom!
Katy’s currently getting a Masters in Biology with a focus on promoting conservation biology through art. Clearly, she’s an overachiever!
Love in the Wild is a 28-page board book, leaving no room for back matter, so Katy created a printable guide describing the animal behaviors depicted in the book in much more detail. The handout is designed for adults to read and then discuss with children. I’ve included a link to download it below.
Activities:
Pair this book with Love Makes a Family by Sophie Beer
Make your own paper plate butterflies
Title: Love in the Wild
Author/illustrator: Katy Tanis
Publisher: Mudpuppy, 2021
Ages: 2-5
Themes: diversity, love/kindness, acceptance
For more perfect picture book recommendations, please visit Susanna Hill’s website.
Jilanne Hoffmann 
What a beautiful board book. I am always looking for new ones as I have some very young great grandchildren and a great nephew. And, I love how they introduce gender equality. Lovely!
Yes, the artwork is really beautiful! And the research behind it is fascinating!
What striking colors! Must find this one!
Yes, and my photos don’t do them justice, sadly.
Love how vivid and appealing these illustrations are. I have recommended it to SFPL as I want to see this one myself.
Thanks, Joanna!
I’ve read about this one elsewhere but still have gotten my hands on it. It looks magical.
It’s a gently, lovely book! Don’t forget to check out the info at the website listed on the back of the book. Lots of really cool details about the animals and their behaviors.
Gorgeous! Young kids are going to love this one!
Yes, I have a friend whose wee one asks to read the “love” book every day!
Love this! It looks like the perfect gift for a friend who is about to have a baby. Thanks for sharing.
Yay! It’s a perfect gift for a wee one! Thanks for dropping in!