Gill Lewis is a children’s author who writes about animals and our human relationship with the wild world. Her books have been translated into twenty-six languages and have won the Little Rebels Prize, the German Prize for Environmental Youth Literature and the US Green Earth Book Award. Here, she tells BooksfromScotland the inspiration behind her latest book, Song of the River.

Song of the River
By Gill Lewis
Published by Barrington Stoke

‘Why do you write stories?’

This is one of the most common questions I get asked at schools. A seemingly simple question, yet one that has been hard to answer. Yet, over the last ten years, since first being published, I have begun to understand why I write. Of course, writing is about wanting to share thoughts and ideas and hopefully through an engaging story. But writing is a form of protest too. It is a way of joining other voices to call for change to happen. We know we are in a climate emergency and a biodiversity crisis. The UK is one of the most nature depleted countries in the world, with the RSPB State of Nature Report showing severely declining native species populations. With increasing urbanisation, children are becoming more removed from nature, losing contact with the wild world. But stories can help bridge that gap. Stories have the potential to be powerful because they can take the reader by the hand and lead them through another person’s world and help them empathise with the protagonist’s journey and make them deeply care.

Song of the River is a song of protest. I have written about the need for restoring wild landscapes in two of my books; Sky Dancer and Eagle Warrior. Both are about the need to rewild intensively managed grouse moors. Song of the River is a story about using one particular animal, the beaver, to re-engineer our landscapes. Beavers, a once native species, are keystone species. They can change landscapes, create new habitats and increase biodiversity. They cut down trees and dam rivers, creating wetlands that in turn have the potential to thrive with variety of flora and fauna. In doing so, they slow water, reduce soil erosion and reduce the risk of flooding downstream too.

We often think in visual terms about restoring landscapes, but when I was writing Song of the River I thought about the changing soundscapes. With restored wetland habitats comes a cacophony of animal song: birds, amphibians and insects. The song of the river will change too, from a rushing river in full spate to one burbling and tinkling as water flows through the ponds and pools. It’s a song we would have heard five hundred years ago, before humans exterminated the beaver from Britain. Now, with the return of the beaver into many parts of Britain, we are already seeing the huge benefits they bring. But there is still reluctance to let these creatures back.

In Song of the River, ten-year-old Cari must fight against local resistance and persuade her community why the beavers are so badly needed in their valley. But when we first meet Cari, she has unwillingly moved from the city to a new life in the countryside where her mother has opened a riverside cafe. Cari is angry and in turmoil. She feels just like the river that rages through the garden of her new home.

‘Sometimes I feel like the river. Sometimes I feel I’m drowning in its sound. The river rages deep inside of me and I can’t make it stop. How can you stop a river? How can you change its song?’

 But when a flood devastates their new home and café, Cari begins to wonder if the plans to reintroduce beavers to the valley can save their livelihood. First, she must try to convince the community to give the beavers a chance, but even if she does, will it be enough to stop her home from being destroyed for a second time? Ultimately, I wanted to draw parallels between Cari and the river, and that if the river can change its song, then maybe Cari can change her own life too.

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Another question I’m often asked by schools is, ‘what do you hope readers take away from your stories?’

And my answer is that I hope they enjoy the story and know that, like Cari, their voices count and deserve to be heard. Because we need many voices. The United Nations has declared the next decade as one of nature restoration. We can all be agents of change. Words are powerful things. They can rewild hearts and minds, and if we use them well, we can rewild this world.

Song of the River by Gill Lewis is published by Barrington Stoke, priced £6.99.