• Age: 5 to 8
• Grade: k to 3

A touching tale of a grandmother and her granddaughter exploring and cherishing the natural world.

Words, the woods, and the world illuminate this quest to save the most important pieces of our language—by saving the very things they stand for.

When Mimi finds out her favorite words—simple words, like apricot, blackberry, buttercup—are disappearing from the English language, she elects her granddaughter Brook as their Keeper. And did you know? The only way to save words is to know them.

• With its focus on the power of language and social change, The Keeper of Wild Words is ideal for educators and librarians as well as young readers.
• For any child who longs to get outside and learn more about nature and the environment
• A loving portrait of the special relationship that grandparents have with their grandchildren

For children who love such books as Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature, And Then It's Spring, and Finding Wild.

Brooke Smith is a poet and children's book author. She lives in Bend, Oregon, at the end of a long cinder lane. Brooke writes daily from her studio, looking at the meadow and many of the wild words she cherishes.

Madeline Kloepper is a Canadian artist with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Major in Illustration from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Her work is influenced by childhood, nostalgia, and the relationships we forge with nature. She lives in Prince George, British Columbia.

Brooke Smith's profile page

Madeline Kloepper is a Canadian artist who has a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a major in illustration from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Although she grew up in the lower mainland of British Columbia amidst a sea of humans and spent a few years in Vancouver, she has since migrated northward to Prince George. Madeline’s work is influenced by childhood, nostalgia and the relationships we forge with nature. She has also illustrated Little Blue Chair by Cary Fagan.

Madeline Kloepper's profile page

“[T]touching, poetic, noble… The best use of [The Keeper of Wild Words] is to take children out on a nature hunt to collect and/or identify said listed items. Using the large envelope at the end of the book is a good way to make a keepsake of the experience.”—School Library Journal

“[In The Keeper of Wild Words] Kloepper's soft illustrations feature green and brown earth tones that frame the white, matte pages; bursts of red, purple, and other spot colors enliven the scenes… Sensory details allow the protagonist to hear, see, smell, taste, and hold the wild… The last page forms an envelope for readers' own vocabulary collections. Sweet-and savory.”—Kirkus Reviews