Who Is Carolyn Wild?
Carolyn Wild is an award-winning Canadian author, artist, farmer, and primary school teacher in the Vernon School District, located in the beautiful Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. Drawing on more than 25 years of teaching experience, she creates engaging books and educational resources that inspire young children to develop a lifelong love of reading.
As a dedicated educator, Carolyn is passionate about making learning meaningful, enjoyable, and accessible. Her classroom experiences inspire many of the stories, activities, and free teaching resources she creates for parents, teachers, librarians, and homeschool families around the world.
Inspired by life on Wild Acres farm, the beauty of the Okanagan Valley, and the curiosity of the children she teaches, Carolyn’s books feature real-life photographs, colourful illustrations, engaging stories, and educational activities that encourage children to explore nature, science, literacy, and the world around them. Each book is carefully designed to build reading confidence while making learning both fun and memorable.
Whether she is teaching in the classroom, photographing farm animals, writing her next story, or creating new learning activities, Carolyn hopes to spark curiosity, imagination, and a lifelong love of books in every child she reaches.
Early Life
Carolyn’s roots trace back to the bustling city of Toronto, but at the age of six, she moved with her parents, younger sister, and brother to a 300-acre farm in Pine River, Manitoba. The move reconnected her family with their farming heritage, which dates back to the late 1800s in the Pine River area. Carolyn’s great-grandmother and grandparents became important mentors, sharing their knowledge of farming, family traditions, and the rich history of their Ukrainian heritage.
Life on the family farm was filled with unforgettable adventures. Surrounded by horses, cows, chickens, pigs, geese, ducks, gardens, wheat fields, a nearby river, and wooded trails, Carolyn spent her days horseback riding, building tree forts, picking berries and mushrooms, and exploring ponds, fields, and forests in search of wildlife.
Her growing collection of snakes, mice, chipmunks, baby birds, frogs, insects, and other small creatures—sometimes hidden under her bed—brought her endless joy and occasionally surprised her mother!
Those childhood adventures sparked a lifelong love of animals, nature, and the outdoors. Today, they continue to inspire many of the stories, photographs, and educational activities found in Wild Acres Books. Through her books, Carolyn hopes to encourage children to explore the natural world, ask questions, use their imaginations, and discover the joy of reading.
Carolyn and her mother in the Toronto area, where her life’s journey first began.
Long before she became an author and illustrator, Carolyn filled her childhood notebooks with sketches of animals, farms, and rural landscapes.
A Creative Spirit
From an early age, Carolyn loved being creative and spending time in nature. She filled her school notebooks with drawings of animals and cartoons. An avid reader, she often stayed up late reading under the covers by the soft glow of a flashlight, becoming completely immersed in the stories she loved.
Even in typing class, Carolyn’s imagination flourished. Instead of simply practicing her typing skills, she found herself writing short stories and bringing new characters to life. She dreamed of becoming either an artist or a veterinarian, while the excitement of city life also captured her imagination. Little did she know that these early passions for art, animals, nature, and storytelling would one day inspire her career as a teacher and the award-winning author behind Wild Acres Books.
More sketches from Carolyn’s childhood.
A Lifetime of Teaching
As a young adult, Carolyn enjoyed dancing, singing, and acting in theatre and on movie sets. Her passion for working with children eventually led her to become an Early Childhood Educator before pursuing a career as a primary school teacher, where she has taught for more than 25 years.
Throughout her career, Carolyn has had the privilege of teaching preschool children in Toronto’s Beach neighbourhood and Kindergarten to Grade 3 students in Brandon, Manitoba; Saskatoon and La Loche, Saskatchewan; Calgary, Alberta; and on the Siksika Nation in Alberta. She currently teaches Grade 1 in Vernon, British Columbia, where her daily classroom experiences continue to inspire many of the stories, activities, and educational resources she creates for Wild Acres Books.
Carolyn Wild (Mrs. Wild) sharing her love of reading and learning with her Grade 1 students.
Life on Wild Acres Farm
Carolyn is a mother, step-grandmother, and proud mother of a son who is also an artist and nature lover. She lives on Wild Acres Farm with her husband, Geoff, in Spallumcheen, British Columbia, Canada, where they raise and sell hatching eggs, poultry, waterfowl, and Nubian dairy goats.
Together, Carolyn and Geoff have proudly raised and exhibited livestock for more than ten years at the Interior Provincial Exhibition in Armstrong. Life on the farm provides endless inspiration for Carolyn’s books, photographs, and educational activities, allowing her to share the beauty of rural life with children around the world.
Carolyn riding Asia, her horse, and cuddling one of her first Nubian dairy goat kids. Her lifelong love of animals and nature inspires the stories, photographs, and educational resources she creates for Wild Acres Books.
Wild Acres Books
In January 2023, Carolyn began writing children’s books, using her own photographs to connect basic sight words from her classroom with real-life animal pictures from her farm and neighbourhood. Each book includes colourful picture dictionaries, fascinating science facts, and practical tips for parents and educators.
Inspired by the classroom curriculum, farm life, and everyday experiences, Carolyn has since published numerous colourful, award-winning books in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover editions. Her books are sold worldwide through Amazon, online retailers, local bookstores, and are also available through the Okanagan Regional Library.
While Carolyn loves creating new story ideas, finding the perfect photographs and carefully crafting each book requires dedication, creativity, and attention to detail. She especially values the feedback and encouragement she receives from her students, friends, and family throughout the publishing process.
In her classroom, Carolyn’s books help inspire a love of reading while building confidence in beginning readers. She also offers a growing collection of free worksheets, lesson plans, colouring pages, sight word activities, and other educational resources on her website to support parents, teachers, librarians, and homeschool families.
All Wild Acres Books are carefully leveled using Lexile®, ATOS™, and other recognized reading level programs to help educators and families select books that match a child’s reading ability. Carolyn’s goal is to make learning to read enjoyable, meaningful, and accessible for children everywhere.
A glimpse into Carolyn’s life—family, gardening, farm adventures, and memorable moments at the Interior Provincial Exhibition in Armstrong.
Looking Ahead
Carolyn continues to expand the Wild Acres Books collection with new stories, educational resources, and engaging activities for young readers. Whether she is writing a new adventure, photographing farm animals, creating classroom materials, or spending time with her family on the farm, her goal remains the same—to inspire curiosity, encourage a love of nature, and help every child become a confident, lifelong reader.
“As a first-year teacher, I was thrilled to receive a cherished gift—a charming coffee mug from a parent with a special quote by Forest E. Witcraft. The quote perfectly sums up my life’s ambitions, and I am grateful for the opportunity to make a difference in this world.”
Carolyn enjoying her Komondor dogs at home on the farm.
Look for more farm animal pictures and videos on the Wild Acres farm website: https://wildacres.ca/
