Groenemann awakens her readers to the wonder of a childhood nurtured by nature as they follow Ellie Addis and Cooper Kane growing up in the wilderness of the Ozarks. Having barely known one another as early teens their lives take them on divergent journeys. They separately come to adulthood just as they recognize that climate change is beginning to threaten the natural surroundings they hold dear. Ironically, it is the very nature they love that throws them together again; the challenge becomes how to preserve their precious Ozarks (as well as the rest of the planet) while navigating their own personal rocky terrain. A Thousand Ways to Kiss the Earth pushes the reader to examine their own vital and sacred relationship with both themselves and the natural world.