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The Nature of Me

“An orange world where you are truly free.”

With Mia, Bunny Bright and Sun Sparkle

Book art: Mia with flowers in her hair, dancing with Bunny Bright under the orange blossom trees
The story

How the world was found

Mia found this world when she saw a warm orange glow peeking out from beneath a grove of blossom trees. She had not long arrived in Wundoria with Toto, after the two of them jumped onto a rainbow in their garden.

Inside the glow she met Bunny Bright, a bold, bright, dancing bunny, and Sun Sparkle, warm and happy and welcoming. Mia felt so alive that her heart started singing. She looked into the Purple River and saw her own happy face looking back. She looked at her hands and her fingers wiggled back at her. She took a deep breath and realised it was just like the wind, and that it was keeping her alive.

And then she felt like she was the world itself. The earth, the wind, the sea, the stars, the universe, and everything that has ever been here. That is when she understood why this world is called The Nature of Me.

A word from the author

“I wanted the very first world to be a mirror. Before a child can love the trees or the sea, they need to look at their own face and their own two hands and feel glad to be here. Everything else grows from that one small moment of “oh, it is me, and I am alive.””

Jaany

Draft for Jaany to replace in her own words: how this world came about, and what she hoped it would give a child.

Lines to keep

The words that do the work

“I am the trees, the sun, the earth, the wind, the sea and the stars.”

The whole poem builds to this line. It is the quiet heart of Wundoria: you are not a visitor in nature, you are made of it. Children say it with their arms out wide.

“An orange world where you are truly free.”

Freedom here does not mean doing anything you like. It means being allowed to simply be who you are, without having to earn it.

“Her fingers wiggled back at her.”

A tiny joke that is really a body scan. Look at your hands, feel your breath, notice you are here. Calm arrives without anyone saying the word calm.

What this story helps with

What it gives your child

  • Knowing their own body through breath, hands and movement, the ground every other feeling stands on
  • A sense of self built on wonder, on what they can do, not how they look
  • A quiet moment of calm they can return to: mirror, hands, breath
  • Belonging. I am part of everything, the opposite of lonely
  • The feeling that simply being here is wonderful
Who you will meet

The characters of The Nature of Me

Mia in a scene from the book

Mia

the beloved

Kind, gentle and endlessly curious. Her name means beloved. Mia’s journey through the worlds is the journey of the heart: finding out who she is and learning that she is loved simply for being herself.

Bunny Bright in a scene from the book

Bunny Bright

the heart spark

Bold, bright and always dancing. Bunny Bright is pure joy on four paws, the spark that makes Mia’s heart start singing. He is the feeling of being fully alive.

Sun Sparkle in a scene from the book

Sun Sparkle

warmth that sees you

The smiling sun who shines on the first worlds. Warm, happy and welcoming, Sun Sparkle is the feeling of being truly seen and celebrated.