When a Virginia mother was convicted of child abuse for letting her five-year-old walk alone to a pond—a story that went viral—author Madeleine Kearns reflected on the tension between parental trust and legal consequences. She wondered if she would feel comfortable giving her own young child such freedom.
This thought led her to Meghan Cox Gurdon’s memoir, Free Range Girl. The book details Cox Gurdon’s year in 1976 at age twelve when she moved from New York to rural Maine to live with her father, a back-to-land movement devotee.
Cox Gurdon’s father built their home from scratch—a tin tub for baths and water hauled in buckets from a spring. The homestead featured a pony named Dusty who bit and kicked, chickens that laid multicolored eggs (which Cox Gurdon described as “like cows producing chocolate milk”), and other challenges.
The memoir includes vivid anecdotes: trying to eat a speckled blue egg thinking it was chocolate, learning from her teacher that C.S. Lewis had died (a fact she didn’t know), and explaining to her father why friends had raw eggs on their faces.
Growing up without the internet or social media, Cox Gurdon experienced real-world adventures—riding horses bareback, driving a Ford, surviving leeches—and these taught her resilience. When her father’s car got stuck in mud, she learned to drive it forward while he pushed from behind—a lesson that led her to become a skilled driver by thirteen.
Her father set boundaries: no amusement park rides after a friend’s death in an accident, and a firm “no goddamn cigarettes” when she tried smoking. Yet the memoir also captures family upheaval—her parents divorced when she was six, and her aunt left the family abruptly.
Despite challenges, Cox Gurdon developed a strong moral compass. When shoplifting with a friend, she reflected: “We’d simply been selfish. We’d been reckless too.” She resolved to stop.
The book highlights a stark contrast with today’s childhood: in 1976, 40% of high-school seniors read at least six books for fun, compared to fewer than 11.5% now.
Kearns notes that while most parents won’t build their own homesteads, they might settle for more walkable neighborhoods, limiting screen time in favor of books, and creating communities where children can play outdoors unsupervised.