Why am I passionate about this?

I credit my overactive imagination to a childhood in which our parents left us to run wild. There I developed a very alive and personal relationship to the living world which I've continued to both plunder and nourish in order to write novels. In these times of ecological devastation, it’s telling that so many children’s lives have migrated towards the virtual. I believe it’s the interpenetration of our own imagination into what is mysterious, enduring and alive in the natural world that shows us why we must strive to hold it sacred. I encourage all kids to get off their screens and to go outside. There you will find life’s unbridled magic.


I wrote

Molly & Pim and the Millions of Stars

By Martine Murray,

Book cover of Molly & Pim and the Millions of Stars

What is my book about?

All Molly wants is to be normal like her friend Ellen Palmer. Ellen, with her neat braids and a tidy…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Moominpappa at Sea

Martine Murray Why did I love this book?

To be truthful, I would list all the Moomin books as top of my list and am only choosing one because I can’t pick them all. In Moominvalley and its enduring characters, its seasons, snowstorms, comets, floods, and finally its absences, we find lifes’ psychological dramas, doubts, and triumphs perfectly embedded in and drawn from the tempestuous and consoling presence of the natural world. I read all these books to my daughter and relished the emergence of a conjured world that was deep and familiar, yet also distant and magical, as is whatever realm of nature you most find yourself close to. I remember Moompapa at sea for its particularly philosophical and slightly wistful tone and because who doesn’t wonder about the wildness and loneliness of life inside a lighthouse. 

By Tove Jansson, Kingsley Hart (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Moominpappa at Sea as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

Soon to be MOOMINVALLEY, a MAJOR ANIMATED SERIES on SKY ONE starring Taron Egerton and Rosamund Pike!

Moominpappa is feeling at a loss. He has no idea what to do with himself - it seems everything has already been done!

So he takes his family off to start a new life in a lighthouse on a tiny, rocky island far out to sea. It's rather lonely at first, but it isn't long before the Moomins discover some funny and surprising new things about themselves.


Book cover of Swallows and Amazons

Martine Murray Why did I love this book?

I am not a sailor by any standard, and have never lived by a lake, but this didn’t stop me from relating to this pre-war British classic about a family of four children who spend their summer in high adventure, all fuelled by lively imaginations and a good deal of convincing knowledge about sailing and camping. They navigate by the stars, sleep out, devise contests with fellow sailors, join forces against an imagined foe. I loved how it reminded me of the magic of my childhood. Being one of four children who were largely left to our own devices, we also created whole worlds with Ivy kingdoms, tea tree jungles, enemies, cubbies, and campouts, all of which unleashed a lasting reverence for the mysterious wonder of the natural world.

By Arthur Ransome,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked Swallows and Amazons as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

The ultimate children's classic - long summer days filled with adventure.

John, Susan, Titty and Roger sail their boat, Swallow, to a deserted island for a summer camping trip. Exploring and playing sailors is an adventure in itself but the island holds more excitement in store. Two fierce Amazon pirates, Nancy and Peggy, challenge them to war and a summer of battles and alliances ensues.

'My childhood simply would not have been the same without this book. It created a whole world to explore, one that lasted long in the imagination after the final page had been read' - Marcus…


Book cover of Wildwood

Martine Murray Why did I love this book?

I want to list something that is contemporary and this was one of the few series I was willing to see through. I was impressed with the way the world beyond the Impassable wilderness comes to life, literally, as we follow Prue and Curtis on their mission to rescue Prue’s baby brother. As well as plunging into forests or villages, replete with talking animals and birds, menacing ivy, an army of coyote bandits, underground warrens, cushions made of moss, an occult queen– there is enough mysticism, ritual, strange politics and twists, turns and perils to ensure a compelling narrative pace. 

By Colin Meloy, Carson Ellis (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Wildwood as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

When her baby brother is kidnapped by crows, Prue McKeel begins an adventure that will take her and her friend Curtis way beyond her hometown and deep into the Impassable Wilderness. There they uncover a secret world in the midst of violent upheaval, a world full of warring creatures, peace-loving mystics and powerful figures with the darkest intentions.

What begins as a rescue mission becomes something much bigger as the two friends find themselves entwined in a struggle for the very freedom of this wilderness. A wilderness the locals call Wildwood.

Wildwood is a spellbinding tale full of wonder, danger…


Book cover of My Side of the Mountain

Martine Murray Why did I love this book?

This book was one of my childhood favourites. It spoke to the part of me who used to routinely “run away”, mostly for the implied sense of adventure and also because I was entranced with the idea of living in a cubby I’d built myself. One of my most spectacular cubbies was built at the foot of an enormous pine tree, around whose drooping branch I fashioned an igloo-like stick structure which I stuffed with pine needles. Inside I made beds of pine needles which I even slept in, despite it being a good half hour from our home. My Side of the Mountain makes my attempts at independence, puny. That Sam, who learns to make fire, hunt, cook, make clothes and live in a tree hollow, also makes friends with a falcon was the crowning glory. 

By Jean Craighead George,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked My Side of the Mountain as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

"Should appeal to all rugged individualists who dream of escape to the forest."-The New York Times Book Review

Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods-all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever.

"An extraordinary book . . . It will be read year after…


Book cover of The Secret Garden

Martine Murray Why did I love this book?

As a young girl, this story hooked me with its historical other-worldliness as well as its promise of a dark secret. There is something about the walled garden that has strong symbolic or archetypal resonance, and in this story, the secret garden becomes a site of discovery and of buried loss and renewal or healing. It’s an enduring truth that tending to a garden is soulfully regenerative and this story delivers this with a climactic happy ending encompassing all-around transformations to both garden, ailing son Colin, spoilt orphan Mary, and grief-stricken father Archibald.   

By Claire Freedman, Shaw Davidson (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Secret Garden as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Rediscover the magical story of Mary Lennox, who arrives in the wild and windswept Yorkshire a sickly and miserable girl - until she discovers a forgotten, Secret Garden.

As Mary works hard to bring the garden back to life, its magic begins to work on her too . . .

This classic and beloved story has been beautifully retold by Claire Freedman and brought to glorious visual life by new illustration talent Shaw Davidson


Explore my book 😀

Molly & Pim and the Millions of Stars

By Martine Murray,

Book cover of Molly & Pim and the Millions of Stars

What is my book about?

All Molly wants is to be normal like her friend Ellen Palmer. Ellen, with her neat braids and a tidy house and a mother and father who are home for dinner every night. But Molly's mom spends her mornings tramping through the woods, looking for ingredients for her potions. Their rooster, the Gentleman, runs wild in their yard, angering their grumpy neighbors, the Grimshaws. So Molly's mom makes a potion that will grow a tree between their houses.

When Molly's mom accidentally drinks the potion and turns into the tree, Molly is determined to get her back. But the Grimshaws plan to cut down the tree branches that reach onto their property. Molly sets out to save her mother and discovers the wonder that lies in the ordinary.

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Serendipity

By Maria de Fátima Santos,

Book cover of Serendipity

Maria de Fátima Santos Author Of Serendipity

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Why am I passionate about this?

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What is my book about?

Serendipity is a magical story told by a grandmother to a granddaughter, introducing us to the traditional way of living of the Scottish Travellers and their Cant language.

A fantasy tale for children of 8 years old and older inspired by three real places in Scotland. Serendipity takes us to Helge's Hole in Forres, the Hermitage Forest in Dunkeld, and Glen Lyon in Perth on a quest for Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. It's a story of a grandmother's greater love for a granddaughter, a mother for a daughter, and the boundless bounty of the natural realm for each one of…

Serendipity

By Maria de Fátima Santos,

What is this book about?

Not so long ago, nomadic communities in Scotland told stories around camp fires and slept in bow tents made of hazel and canvas. In this book, their culture is introduced through Cant's vocabulary, a dialect spoken by Scottish travellers. Following them, Serendipity takes you to Helge's Hole in Forres, Hermitage Forest in Dunkeld, and Glen Lyon in Perth, meandering through the valleys and cragged peaks of the Scottish Highlands, in a quest for Truth, Beauty and Goodness.

Dive into Scottish culture as the old grandmother, Julia, recounts to her granddaughter Gaia the tale of a little girl of pure heart.…


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