Think about our precious world: An Interview with Sally Maitland

Look up. Look down. You’ll see living things everywhere on this luscious green Earth of ours. Sally Maitland’s book takes readers right down to the ground, to the tiny burrows and expansive kingdom of the ants – one of nature’s strongest creatures (in accordance with their size, of course)

The acceleration of climate change and the disastrous ramifications of our warming world has made us all too aware of the frailty of our ecosystems and the precarious situation we are teetering on if things don’t change.

We spoke with Sally about her childhood spent surrounded by animals, her love for her children and grandchildren, and how that inspired her in writing Adventurous Ants.

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You grew up on a rural farm in South Devon. How did your childhood experiences, surrounded by farm animals, inspire your work?

As an only child - although I had lots of school and home friends - I tended to rely on my pony, the farm dogs and cats for my everyday friendships. I had pet rabbits and a hamster, and we kept chickens. The dog had puppies and the horses had foals over the years. Being surrounded by these wonderful animals and witnessing the birth of so many - including lambs and calves too - I grew to love animals deeply and understand some of their non-verbal language. I had a truly privileged childhood in this respect.

Writing an educational book for young children is incredibly important but must also be quite difficult. What brought you to such a challenge?

My eldest daughter and her husband had their first baby during COVID, and I really only saw them via Zoom. Number two grandchild arrived, again with some limitations on visiting London from South Devon. Having taught my own two girls to read and write by four years- old, I wanted to try to do the same for my grandchildren… then I thought that a book might even reach a few more!

I have taught children to ride ponies for over 30 years and love seeing them increase in confidence and ability, so writing a book about the alphabet and numbers, whilst enjoying the rhymes and pictures, fulfilled my need to educate through fun.

As you can read, I have dedicated the book to my two grandchildren but also to “all children who like to learn” because of course, being able to read and count starts to open young children up to the chance to gain so much more knowledge.

Your hand drawn illustrations are delightfully charming. Have you always been an artist or was this something new for this book?

I have always liked drawing. My father painted as a hobby and as a young child my hand would be guided by his whilst learning about shape, shadows and perspective.

I have actually done various commissions of horses and dogs, using chalk pastels, over the years.

The last page of Adventurous Ants is a plea to the reader to help animals of all kinds. Why did you want to end your book this way?

From early childhood I have always watched nature programmes. I am devoted to Sir David Attenborough and his attempts to educate the populations of the world about how vital it is to share this planet and look after the flora and fauna.

I hope this book and poem might just inspire a few young children to think about our precious world, and ultimately, how to limit human destruction.

If we may ask, are you planning to write more books down the line?

As to another book along these lines - I am not sure yet.

I have drafted a new book, which certainly mentions a little about coral reef seeding and animal habitat for 6–8-year-olds, but it is very much still a work in progress.

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Adventurous Ants is available now in paperback.