Loree Burns – Page 43

April 2, 2009April 25, 2015

For Meredith M!

This post is for a student named Meredith, who I met at a Sustainability Fair last fall. I hope she finds her way here, because her project is due very soon and I am at a a loss as to how else I can reach her …

Dear Meredith,

I have gotten your emails, and I have responded to each and every one. Clearly my replies are not reaching you. If you are reading this, please check the SPAM folder of your email system to see if my errant emails are there. In them you will find the information you asked about.

Best wishes,
Loree Griffin Burns

March 31, 2009April 25, 2015

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE
By Barbara Kingsolver
HarperCollins, 2007

Category: Non-fiction for Grown-ups

“Eaters must understand, how we eat determines how the world is used.”

I’ve been thinking for days what I could possibly say about this book, and I keep coming back to this single word:

Life-altering.

Confronting our food life—and by our food life I mean the food life of my own little family—is something I struggle with. Like so many others, I want to make choices that will keep us and our planet healthy. This isn’t easy. It is the opposite of easy, actually. But Barbara Kingsolver and her family reminded me why it is imperative to keep trying. For one year, they ate nothing but food produced in their own neighborhood; if they couldn’t grow it or find it locally, they lived without it. This book is a memoir of that experience.

“It’s the worst of bad manners—and self-protection, I think, in a nervously cynical society—to ridicule the small gesture. These earnest efforts might just get us past the train-wreck of the daily news, or the anguish of standing behind a child, looking with her at the road ahead, searching out redemption where we can find it: recycling or carpooling or growing a garden or saving a species or something. Small, stepwise changes in personal habits aren’t trivial. Ultimately they will, or won’t, add up to having been the thing that mattered.”

Buoyed by this book, I’ll keep making small, stepwise changes … and believing with all of my heart that they matter.

March 29, 2009April 25, 2015

À la Kelly Fineman …

Writer and poet Kelly Fineman has a tradition of quoteskimming on Sundays, whereby she shares with her blog readers words of wisdom mined over the course of a week’s reading. Today I’d like to join her, because I found this gem in a short essay called Compass Points by Judy Blundell in the March/April 2009 issue of The Horn Book Magazine, and it spoke to me:

There is a February of the soul that writers know, and though nothing tangible helps, including walks and tea, there is something that does, and that is another writer saying I know.

Oh, that February of the soul. Do you know it? And that other writer, the one who says I know, do you know her, too? I do, I do, and I feel blessed.

Happy Sunday!

March 27, 2009April 25, 2015

Signs of Spring

Our crocuses burst open today, and the honey bees who live next door came over to check them out. Although I should have been working on, oh, about a hundred other things, I decided to soak it all in: sunshine, shirtsleeves, singing birds, shouting kids, time outside with my camera and absolutely no agenda.

Here’s hoping the loveliness has sprung where you are, too …

March 26, 2009April 25, 2015

Library Love

Beaman Memorial Library in West Boylston, Massachusetts

There is a library-lovin’ challenge going on around the blogging world, and YOU can get involved. A group of generous writer/bloggers have pledged to make donations to their favorite libraries; the amount of their donation depends on how many people visit and comment on their library-lovin’ blog posts. Read all about it here, and then, if you can, spend some time cheering the participants. Every comment you make sends money to a deserving library somewhere in the world.

I wasn’t able to join the festivities, but I have been inspired to show my love for the Beaman Memorial Library in West Boylston, Massachusetts. I sponsor the library’s subscriptions to Scientific American and Discover for Kids. (You are not surprised by these choices, are you?) This year, though, in honor of the generous spirit of Jenn Hubbard and all her library lovin’ friends, I’ll add a third magazine renewal to my donation.

So, friends, what third magazine should I pick?

March 24, 2009April 25, 2015

Flotsametrics

FLOTSAMETRICS AND THE FLOATING WORLD
By Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano
HarperCollins, 2009

Category: Non-fiction for adults and TRACKING TRASH fans!

I first met Curt Ebbesmeyer through an AP article that ran in my local newspaper in the spring of 2003. His story—a scientist whose passion was tracking debris around the world ocean in the name of science—inspired my first book for young people. Between reading that newspaper article and publishing TRACKING TRASH (a period of four years), I got to know Curt fairly well. I interviewed him, learned from him, watched him work the fair circuit, and even beachcombed by his side. He is a smart and generous man, and his passion for all things that float is truly inspirational. Which is why I am excited to tell you that today is Curt’s big day …

FLOTSAMETRICS AND THE FLOATING WORLD, his first book, is officially published! Congratulations, Curt!

You can learn more about this “captivating account of the man who turned beachcombing into a science” at its official website. You can buy a copy, of course, from booksellers everywhere. My own pre-ordered copy is finally on its way, and I am rubbing my hands together in delight.

Oh, it bears repeating: Congratulations, Curt! I am giddy for you!

March 21, 2009April 25, 2015

Frogs!

Spring is springing here in Massachusetts, and for me, at least this year, spring means frogs …

Yep. I’ve got more citizen science to explore, and this time it’s an amphibian monitoring project known as FrogWatch. After tagging butterflies and counting birds, monitoring frogs and toads will be a unique challenge … this work is done in the dark and by ear. We don’t look for the frogs, we listen for them, and the best time to hear them is after dark near a suitable water source when the males begin calling for females. Of course, in order to know who is calling you’ve got to learn the calls of all the frogs and toads in your area. (Are you intrigued yet?)

Surprisingly, learning frog calls is pretty straightforward. The official FrogWatch website has everything you need to get started, including photographs and sound clips for every frog and toad in your part of the country. Here in Massachusetts, we have ten species. Learning their calls is tricky, but not impossible. Anyway, check out this page to find a list of all the frogs and toads that live near you. Go on, give it a try.

As if all this weren’t exciting enough, one of my amphibian mentors is also a vernal pool certifier. She’s agreed to let me tag along as she certifies vernal pools in the coming months … and she’s got an extra set of waders.

I LOVE SPRING!

March 19, 2009April 25, 2015

Me and Stephenie Meyer

I know, I know. At first glance, it seems that Stephenie and I have very little in common. She lives in Arizona and I live in Massachusetts. She writes vampire fiction and I write non-fiction about trash and honey bees. But this week, while enjoying a bit of vampire fiction, I discovered a cool connection. You know, of course, this little book Ms. Meyer wrote?

And you remember where it is set? No? Well, then, I’ll tell you. It is set here:

That, my friends, is the Forks, Washington home of beachcomber John Anderson. I spent an afternoon perusing John’s extensive collection of beachcombed debris while researching TRACKING TRASH. In fact, this picture, found on page 7 of TRACKING TRASH, was taken in John’s Forks, Washington garage:

Small world, eh?

Having spent some time in Forks, I can tell you that it is just as overcast and misty as Ms. Meyer describes it in TWILIGHT. I didn’t see any cold ones when I was there, but I did see bone-chilling amounts of plastic debris, all of it collected on Forks beaches by John Anderson:

Anyway, if you know any Stephanie Meyer fans who are pining away for more Forks, Washington stories, be sure to let them know about TRACKING TRASH …

March 18, 2009April 25, 2015

Copyedit Fun

Guess what arrived this week? My new-and-improved, fully-copyedited bee book manuscript. Go on, have a peek:

Did you notice the new title? THE HIVE DETECTIVES is now called COLONY COLLAPSE: CHRONICLE OF A HONEY BEE CATASTROPHE. I am not sold on this change yet; what do you think?

Did you also notice the scads of purple ink on the text pages? (You might have to click the image to enlarge it and see the scads clearly.) The fun begins on page one, with the word honey bee. Houghton Mifflin house style calls for this to be changed to a single word: honeybee. Scientists, however, prefer the more accurate two words: honey bee. My job is to figure out which is most appropriate for this book … and once I have to move on and address hundreds of similar issues on pages two through sixty-seven (plus i through xxxv).

If you are my friend and you are a beekeeper, you will surely be hearing from me this week!

March 17, 2009April 25, 2015

My Friend Stephanie!

Last Friday afternoon I took two of my three kids to the 54th Annual Worcester Regional Science & Engineering Fair. It was held at my almer mater, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, but that is not why we went. No, we went to cheer our friend Stephanie, a bright and sophisticated high school junior who I have known since—oh my, it hardly seems possible!—since she was a bright and sophisticated two-year-old.

It was a thrill to watch Stephanie at work with her peers, sharing her research with fair-goers and judges alike. She was one of only twelve students from her high school invited to participate in this Regional Science Fair, and her project, in my humble but clearly-not-unbiased opinion, is timely, intriguing, and important:

Over the course of a semester, Stephanie designed experiments to explore the antibacterial properties of various honeys and, for comparison, sugar solutions. Her findings are intriguing, and the science fair judges agreed:

That is Stephanie accepting her commendation for her research. She will now compete with hundreds of high school scientists across the state at the Massachusetts State Science Fair at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology later in the spring.

Go, Steph, go!