Cities Going Wild – To Save the Planet

By Catherine Barr and Christiane Engel

Reviewed by Annaleise Byrd

Catherine Barr is a prolific author of non-fiction picture books. Based in Hay-on-Wye, the Welsh ‘town of books’, she has previously studied ecology and journalism, and worked with Greenpeace and at London’s Natural History Museum. She is currently undertaking an ambitious project to – over time – walk from Cornwall to the Scottish Isles while offering free visits to schools and libraries along the way, supported by an Arts Council England grant. Christiane Engel is a UK-based illustrator whose work has appeared in children’s books, maps, packaging and ad campaigns.

Cities Going Wild is a 37-page non-fiction picture book about urban rewilding, filled with case studies from around the world. As the blurb says, it’s about cities that are ‘making themselves friendlier places for plants and wildlife – and happier, healthier places for all of us’. In between its introduction and glossary, the book contains seven sections, each consisting of two double-page spreads.

In each section, the first spread outlines a general rewilding concept (such as living walls or urban jungle food) in three or four paragraphs, with the text surrounded by several smaller images from various cities. Each of these smaller images is accompanied by a one-sentence summary – for example, inset over a picture of a living roof on a train station is the text, ‘Lizards lounge on specially made gravel roofs above the city train station in Zurich, Switzerland’.

The second spread in each section contains a similar amount of text but provides a more in-depth case study of another location actioning that concept (such as Sydney Harbour’s Living Seawall or the network of micro-gardens in Senegal’s largest city, Dakar). On each case study spread, there is a pictorial list of five or six things (usually creatures) to spot in the illustration – a clever choice that broadens the audience age range and means this can also serve as a simple search-and-find book.

This is a well-considered and thoroughly appealing non-fiction title. Engel’s illustrations are colourful, detailed and child-friendly; they are truly a highlight of the book. The structure, illustration style and search-and-find aspects present a wonderful opportunity to introduce younger children to the many ways humans can live, work and play in harmony with nature; it would suit children as young as six but also contains plenty of intriguing real-life information to inspire older children (and adults!) to look up photos or even go down a rabbit hole of research into the places featured.

Highly recommended for both school and home libraries. There would be copious opportunities to use this book in the classroom throughout the primary school years. And for readers who want to know more about these concepts, I recommend following it up with Green Cities: How Green Infrastructure Helps Heal the Planet and Ultrawild: An Audacious Plan to Rewild Every City on Earth.

Catherine Barr

Christiane Engel

Otter-Barry Books 2026

Annaleise Byrd is the author of middle grade portal fantasies Losing the Plot and Down the Plot Hole, and the picture book You Are Not a Pup!