Nature
Braiding sweetgrass
Robin Wall Kimmerer
"As a leading researcher in the field of biology, Robin Wall Kimmerer understands the delicate state of our world. But as an active member of the Potawatomi nation, she senses and relates to the world through a way of knowing far older than any science. In Braiding Sweetgrass, she intertwines these two modes of awareness--the analytic and the emotional, the scientific and the cultural--to ultimately reveal a path toward healing the rift that grows between people and nature. The woven essays that construct this book bring people back into conversation with all that is green and growing; a universe that never stopped speaking to us, even when we forgot how to listen"--
The Tea Dragon Society
Katie (Cartoonist) O'Neill
jGRAPHIC NOVEL O'Neill
Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Nature
After discovering a lost Tea Dragon in the marketplace, apprentice blacksmith Greta learns about the dying art form of Tea Dragon caretaking from the kind tea shop owners.
I'm very late on reading the sequel to this one, and want to make sure I'm caught up before heading to The Tea Dragon Festival. I love Katie O'Neill's style--Aquicorn Cove is equally adorable. -Casey
The young adventurer's guide to (almost) everything : build a fort, camp like a champ, poop in the woods--45 action-packed outdoor activities
Ben Hewitt
j796.083 Hewitt
Nature
"Once upon a time, kids learned the most amazing and unusual things. They learned how to shelter and clothe themselves, how to use a knife and hatchet, how build a fire, tie knots, and read a compass. They learned how to spend a comfortable night in the forest without a nylon tent from REI. The Young Adventurer's Guide will teach kids everything from how to walk like a fox and see like an owl to use the stars as their own personal GPS and even how to build the world's coolest fort out of foraged sticks. This handbook for curious kids will empower them to explore the natural world and even the comfort of their own backyard through a whole new set of skills. Featuring 65 different skills in sections that include: Secrets of the Woods, The Best Camping Trip, Make Cool Stuff That's Actually Useful and Turn the Ordinary into the Extraordinary"--
Added by Anne W
Ranger Rick kids' guide to hiking : all you need to know about having fun while hiking
Helen Olsson
j796.51 Olsson
Nature
A guide to hiking discusses where to do it, what time of day and year to go, what to wear, what gear to bring, proper trail etiquette, how to stay safe, and how to have fun.
Added by Anne W
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Annie Dillard
508.755 /Dillard
Nature
A collection of essays on the natural world during a year spent in the Blue Ridge Mountains reflects the author's interactions with her wilderness surroundings.
This book has been on my to-read list for a long time. Dillard's essays on her observations of the natural world in the Blue Ridge mountains are so beautiful and almost otherworldly. There was way too much information about plants and creatures to possibly retain it all but I enjoyed every page. -Mari
Echo Mountain
Lauren Wolk
jFICTION Wolk Lauren
Kids, Nature, Historical Fiction
When twelve-year-old Ellie and her family lose livelihood and move to a mountain cabin in 1934, she quickly learns to be an outdoors woman and, when needed, a healer.
I loved this story, and it provides some pretty incredible perspective for kids in the modern age. Financially affected by the Great Depression, a family has no choice but to live off the land on a mountain. Ellie learns about her gift to heal when tragedy leaves her father gravely ill. Ellie uses the survivalist skills he taught her along with her own intuition to save her family and foster a community on the mountain. -Mari
The book of eels : our enduring fascination with the most mysterious creature in the natural world
Patrik Svensson
597.43 /Svensson
Nature, Nonfiction
"Part H Is for Hawk, part The Soul of an Octopus, The Book of Eels is both a meditation on the world's most elusive fish-the eel-and a reflection on the human condition. Remarkably little is known about the European eel, Anguilla anguilla. So little, in fact, that scientists and philosophers have, for centuries, been obsessed with what has become known as the "eel question": Where do eels come from? What are they? Are they fish or some other kind of creature altogether? Even today, in an age of advanced science, no one has ever seen eels mating or giving birth, and we still don't understand what drives them, after living for decades in freshwater, to swim great distances back to the ocean at the end of their lives. They remain a mystery. Drawing on a breadth of research about eels in literature, history, and modern marine biology, as well as his own experience fishing for eels with his father, Patrik Svensson crafts a mesmerizing portrait of an unusual, utterly misunderstood, and completely captivating animal. In The Book of Eels, we meet renowned historical thinkers, from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud to Rachel Carson, for whom the eel was a singular obsession. And we meet the scientists who spearheaded the search for the eel's point of origin, including Danish marine biologist Johannes Schmidt, who led research efforts in the early twentieth century, catching thousands upon thousands of eels, in the hopes of proving their birthing grounds in the Sargasso Sea. Blending memoir and nature writing at its best, Svensson's journey to understand the eel becomes an exploration of the human condition that delves into overarching issues about our roots and destiny, both as humans and as animals, and, ultimately, how to handle the biggest question of all: death. The result is a gripping and slippery narrative that will surprise and enchant."--
Part natural history, part philosophy, and part eulogy for his father, Svensson writes beautifully about the mysteries of the eel, an animal that has beguiled scientists from ancient times to the present. -Anne M
The emerald horizon : the history of nature in Iowa
Cornelia Fleischer Mutel
508.777 /Mutel
Nonfiction, Nature, Science
A terrific overview of the natural history of Iowa. Any state would be lucky to have such a primer for residents to better understand the world outside their doors. -Jason
The shortest day
Susan Cooper
jE Cooper
Picture Books, Nature, Literary Fiction
A celebration of the winter solstice and the Yuletide season. As the sun set on the shortest day of the year, early people would gather to prepare for the long night ahead. They built fires and lit candles. They played music, bringing their own light to the darkness, while wondering if the sun would ever rise again. Written for a theatrical production that has become a ritual in itself, Susan Cooper's poem "The Shortest Day" captures the magic behind the returning of the light, the yearning for traditions that connect us with generations that have gone before-- and the hope for peace that we carry into the future. Richly illustrated by Carson Ellis with a universality that spans the centuries, this beautiful book evokes the joy and community found in the ongoing mystery of life when we celebrate light, thankfulness, and festivity at a time of rebirth. Welcome Yule!
Lofty, elegant, and achingly beautiful, Carson Ellis's illustrations are the perfect pairing for Susan Cooper's poem. Don't miss this true winter solstice celebration from and for the ages! -Casey
Drawdown : the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming
363.73874 /Drawdown
Nonfiction, Science, Nature
Ten years ago, environmentalist, entrepreneur, and writer Hawken reported, in Blessed Unrest, on diverse activist groups working independently "toward ecological sustainability and social justice." The results of their efforts, along with those of numerous scientific inquiries, generated Hawken's latest contribution to the global sustainability movement, Project Drawdown. "Drawdown" is the point at which greenhouse gases will peak and begin to decline, "the most important goal for humanity to undertake." And one toward which, as Hawken and his contributors so assiduously record in this comprehensive and exacting compilation of vivid exposition and data, we are making progress. Hawken's coalition of experts in fields as varied as biology and economics, geology and engineering, along with such writers as Elizabeth Kolbert, Bill McKibben, and Michael Pollan, take full measure of the 100 "most effective solutions" in a meticulous inventory of current global-warming-reversing practices that are "commonly available, economically viable and scientifically valid." Richly illustrated and accessible, if fervently detailed, this enlightening inventory, backed by an open-source database, covers advances in energy, land use, food, transport, and buildings. The diverse discoveries and achievements, all lucidly explained, from modest domestic adaptations to infrastructure advances, forest restoration to wave and tidal energy, do attest, as Hawken observes, to the power of "our collective imagination, creativity, and conviction." A rigorous and profoundly important resource.
Added by Candice
Blending personal, aesthetic and scientific perspectives on nature, “Braiding Sweetgrass” will have you thinking more about gratitude, restoration, and the relationship between humans and the environment. Kimmerer writes in a poetic style, sharing her own experiences as a mother, a professor, and a Potawatomi woman. A great read! -Becky