ABSTRACT
With the growth of digital interferences like smartphones, gaming and social media, children tend to deviate from nature and moral values, affecting their creativity, physical health, and emotional attachment with people around them. This paper studies how Ruskin Bond's children's fiction can help moral development and environmental consciousness in young readers where his narratives portray children with deep, affectionate relationships with nature, drawing attention to values like respect, empathy, and care for the environment. Through his storytelling, children will be able to develop an awareness of their surroundings and a sense of responsibility toward nature, which is important in an age of environmental degradation. While many literary scholars have examined Bond's works through the lens of ecocriticism and childhood memories, this paper centres on the possible creation of a generation of environmentally and morally responsible mankind by exploring how Ruskin Bond's children's fiction can function as a literary tool to promote moral development and ecological consciousness. Using a descriptive approach through textual analysis, this study uses Ecocriticism and Moral Development theories to interpret Bond's selected stories, encouraging children to build interest in literature that arouses environmental concerns and moral values in shaping a healthy future.
