What Nature Teaches Us: A Book About Being the Light

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By Dar Dowling

The book that became What Nature Teaches Us began with a simple question that a mother started asking her young son during their time outdoors together: what is nature teaching us today? What Amber Vilhauer expected was to be the teacher. What actually happened is what makes this book genuinely special: her nine-year-old son Clay started noticing things she had stopped seeing. The river that finds another way around the rocks. The mountain that holds both sunshine and shadow without judgment. The tree that does not rush its own becoming.

Those observations became a year of conversations, and those conversations became this book, and the role reversal at its heart, the child who becomes the teacher, the adult who learns to slow down and look again, is present on every page. Clay Vilhauer already became an Amazon bestselling author at six years old with The Long Forest Trail. At nine he has written something even more quietly powerful: a poetic, fully illustrated read-aloud that invites children and adults to step away from the noise and pressure of modern life and listen to what the natural world has been patiently saying.

The lessons woven through the book, about resilience, belonging, courage, patience, and what it means to be a light for others, are delivered with the kind of simplicity that is considerably harder to achieve than complexity. Clay writes the way children see: directly, without irony, without the layers of self-consciousness that adults accumulate. That clarity is the book’s greatest gift. It does not try to explain what the sun or the river or the mountain mean. It simply helps you notice.

The Choose the Light movement and the 10,000 Book Mission the Vilhauers built around the book reflect its deepest intention: not just to be read but to be shared, placed into the hands of children in schools, hospitals, and waiting rooms, wherever someone is carrying more weight than anyone sees.

For families looking for a book that earns its place at bedtime and in the classroom alike, this one delivers something genuinely rare: wisdom that a nine-year-old noticed, beautifully rendered for everyone still young enough to listen.

About the Author

Clay Vilhauer

Clay Vilhauer is a nine-year-old bestselling author, soccer player, and adventurer with a heart for impact. At six, he announced he wanted to write a book. Six months later, The Long Forest Trail hit #1 on Amazon, won three awards, and has since put more than 15,000 copies into the hands of kids who need hope. His second book, What Nature Teaches Us, is for the child who needs to know they are enough, and for the adult who needs to know again. Clay's vision is to help kids and adults Choose The Light—a mission that inspires families to reconnect with nature, strengthen their bond, discover their light, and share it with the world.

About the Author

Amber Vilhauer

Amber Vilhauer is the CEO and Founder of NGNG Enterprises (No Guts No Glory), an Inc. 5000 top marketing agency in the country. Since starting her boutique agency in 2007, Amber has supported thousands of entrepreneurs on six continents specializing in branding websites that convert, marketing strategy that draws in qualified leads, and overall business growth consulting, including bestseller book launches. Amber has greatly shaped the publishing and internet marketing industries through her human connection-based strategies and operations.

Amber is a multi-award winner for Female Entrepreneur of the Year and other Women in Business professional awards, which are a testament to her unwavering commitment to excellence and achieving noteworthy results.

Working one-on-one with each client, she and her team have created over 1,500 WordPress websites. Amber knows how a website needs to function in order to generate sales, build a fan base and attract long-term clientele. She works with clients to build a strong, branded social media presence, coaches each client on which manageable actions will help them achieve their financial goals, and then walks them through exactly how to do it. She has been the launch manager behind hundreds of #1 bestselling books, including those for Mark Victor Hansen, Brendon Burchard, Whitney Johnson, Dr. Daniel Amen, Lisa Nichols, and Les Brown. 

She currently resides in Northern Colorado with her little boy, who is a bright light in her life. They frequent their cabin in the woods to soak in nature and focus on play and being good to others. Amber amplifies her core values of Meaningful Connection, Unwavering Excellence, Better Together, Lean In, and Deeply Fulfilled.