Tag: books

WRITING TO CHANGE THE WORLD
By Mary Pipher
Riverhead, 2006

Category: Non-fiction for adults (a craft book for writers)

I found WRITING TO CHANGE THE WORLD at my local bookstore last year and couldn’t resist the flap copy: “[this] is a book that will shake up your beliefs, expand your mind, and possibly even inspire you to make your own mark on the world.” Seemed to me a rather tall order for a single book. I’m happy to report that Mary Pipher delivered with quiet style.

Early on, as an example of activist writing, Pipher shared an article she wrote for the September 2004 issue of Psychotherapy Networker. It is a clinical assessment of a fictional patient by the name of Mr. United States of America. One particular line resonated with me and qualifies as having shaken up my beliefs. That line? “[Mr USA] crafted a Bill of Rights, but no corresponding Bill of Responsibilities.” Woah.

Later, Pipher challenged nonfiction writers to think bigger. Don’t simply share the conventional wisdom in new ways, she says, but instead, rethink the wisdom based on your research, your knowledge, and your experience. As an example, Pipher talked about the hard work of crafting her bestselling Reviving Ophelia: “I slashed and burned through my manuscript, crossing out every ‘Based on the previous information, we could tentatively conclude for certain populations …’ and instead wrote, ‘We live in a girl-poisoning culture.’ This section of the book forced me to think hard about taking a stand in my own work; it is safe to say my mind has been expanded.

As for inspiration, I found it throughout the book, but most especially in these lines: “In a sense, all people are riding a rickety boat across dangerous seas. I like to think of writers as the steady ones saying, ‘Breath deeply, stay steady, we will make it if we help one another.’”

I’m glad I have this one in my library, and I’d recommend it to nonfiction writers, both beginning and practicing, who want to think harder about how their words mark the world.

I kicked things off on Friday at Wellesley Booksmith, where I watched Kristy Dempsey and Christopher Denise entertain a gaggle of preschoolers with stories and art. These two are a pair beyond compare (so to speak), and it was fun to see them interact with their readers. You should totally check out their new picture book:

ME WITH YOU
by Kristy Dempsey
Illustrated by Christopher Denise
Philomel, 2009

On Saturday I was supposed to hold my raffle drawing. But I forgot! When I finally remembered, my husband drew the name cloudscome from my bowl of entries. Please get in touch with me via email (lgb (at) loreeburns (dot) com, cloudscome, because you have won a brandy-new copy of this delightfulness:

THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK
by Carl Vornberger
Harry Abrams, 2005

And on Sunday, my boys turned eleven. ELEVEN! Among their birthday gifts were books from Mom. For Sam, older by one minute and puzzler extraordinaire:

WHEN YOU REACH ME
by Rebecca Stead
Wendy Lamb, 2009

And for Ben, younger BUT BIGGER (as he explained over and again yesterday), and my military guy:

OPERATION YES
by Sara Lewis Holmes
Scholastic, 2009

In the books department, it was a lovely weekend!

THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK
By Carl Vornberger
Harry Abrams, 2005

Category: Non-fiction for young adults and grown-ups

Did you know this second week of September has been proclaimed Random Acts of Publicity Week? I didn’t either, until I read this random act of TRACKING TRASH loveliness by Sara Lewis Holmes. Sara is a sweetheart, and she has inspired me to share a little book love, too.

My choice: THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK.

I first found this book on the shelf of a serious birder I interviewed last winter. Having birded in Central Park myself, I was intrigued. Being an enthusiastic (although decidedly amateur) photographer, I was downright excited. Last week, as I worked through the birding chapter of my citizen science book, I finally got my hands on a copy. To say I adored it would be putting it mildly.

Firstly, the pictures are stunning. I wholeheartedly recommend the book for the images alone. As it turns out, though, fine images are not all you’ll find in THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK. There’s encouragement, in the form of visual proof that a truly diverse array of avian wildlife perches in the heart of New York City. There’s birding insight AND photographic insight as well; nothing overwhelming to beginners, mind you, just a goodly amount of useful information for both birders and photographers.

Any budding wildlife photographer, budding birder, city dweller with the heart of a naturalist, or animal lover would enjoy this book. After drooling over a library copy, I bought one for myself. And guess what? I also bought one for YOU.

Yep.

You.

I’m going to raffle a copy of THE BIRDS OF CENTRAL PARK here on my blog. Leave a comment below and I will enter you in the drawing. In true Random Acts of Publicity Week spirit, you are encouraged to spread the word about this book and the drawing; if you do, let me know and I will enter your name in the drawing a second time. Raffle entry comments will be accepted until Friday at midnight.

Happy Wednesday!

THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.
By Kate Messner
Walker, 2009

Category: Middle Grade Fiction

When my kids are grown, I think one of the things they will remember most about childhood is curling up together on the couch to read. One of the things I will remember most is reading them books written by my friend Kate.

When we four finished reading Kate’s first novel, SPITFIRE, my kids asked, “A girl wrote this?”

Three years later, when we finished reading Kate’s third novel, THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z, they asked, “The same girl wrote this?

Yes, Kate Messner does it all: action-packed historical fiction, emotionally charged contemporary fiction, evocative picture books (trust me on this … they are coming soon!). THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z gave my kids a great sense of the breadth of ground a single writer can cover … and more proof that girl writers rock. All that, and a great read, too. Thank you, Kate, and happy book release day to you!

Here’s some flap copy enticement:

Gianna Zales is a star runner with one more hurdle to jump before she goes to cross-country sectionals – a monster leaf collection project. To get it done, she’ll have to survive a rival who desperately wants to take her place at sectionals, a grandmother who leaves her false teeth in the refrigerator, and a best friend whose feelings about her are changing like the leaves. Gianna Z needs a stroke of brilliance to make it work!

And here’s a link to a fantabulous review over at Kelly Fineman’s Writing and Ruminating blog.

Need more? Visit Kate’s website, or her recent blog post, for information on THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z and upcoming signing events. Oh, and don’t miss this book trailer; it is star-studded and super-fun:

SAVING THE GHOST OF THE MOUNTAIN
By Sy Montgomery
Photographs by Nic Bishop
Houghton Mifflin, 2009

Category: Middle-grade Nonfiction

My kids like to joke that I could never write the sorts of books Sy Montgomery writes … and they may be right. SNAKE SCIENTIST? Um, no thanks. TARANTULA SCIENTIST? I don’t exactly love hairy spiders. QUEST FOR THE TREE KANGAROO? I thought so for a moment or two, but then I noticed a blood-sucking cloud forest leech attached to a human arm, quite possibly the author’s human arm, in the first chapter. I’m out.

I’m a different sort of adventurer, I guess.

But, oh how I love to imagine Sy and her intrepid partner-in-images, Nic Bishop, as they trek around the planet having crazy exciting and somewhat dangerous adventures, bringing back stories of science and conservation. In SAVING THE GHOST OF THE MOUNTAIN, author and photographer traveled to Mongolia to help track the elusive snow leopard. They climbed up, hiked over, and slid down mountains, searching all the while for leopards and, failing that, leopard scat. The book is irresistible and satisfying, despite the unpredictable nature of those ghostlike cats.

I admire Sy’s moxie, but I also admire her sensibilities, as evidenced in these lines, my favorites in the entire book:

Protecting an animal is like loving someone. It’s not something you do and then finish. It’s a long-term promise, honored over and over, one step at a time.”

Amen to that.

For those who don’t know, Mondays are reserved for celebrating children’s nonfiction in the online kidlit world. You can read more about this celebration here on Anastasia Suen’s Picture Book of the Day blog, and you can find a roundup of today’s Nonfiction Monday posts here at the SimplyScience Blog.

A WALK IN THE WOODS
By Bill Bryson
Broadway Books, 1998

Category: Nonfiction for Grownups

I brought this book to Yellowstone and Grand Teton, thinking a travel book—especially a travel-by-foot book—would be perfect national park vacation reading. It was.

A WALK IN THE WOODS chronicles Bryson’s journey along the Appalachian Trail. The fact that he attempted the AT with little backcountry experience, little physical preparedness, and little help should be appalling. (Hikers die for less.) Somehow, though, the story is riveting, inspiring … and absofreakinlutely hysterical instead. Several times while reading I laughed out loud and once—while on a plane—I actually giggled myself to tears. (For those who have read the book, this fit was induced by the Little Debbie snack food scene.) My kids were mortified, of course, but I just couldn’t help it. Bryson is funny, and his AT partner, Katz, is even funnier.

Perhaps the highest praise I can give is this: when I finished A WALK IN THE WOODS, I closed my eyes and let a few more chuckles out, then flipped back to page one and hit the trail a second time. It’s that good.

MILKWEED, MONARCHS AND MORE
A Field Guide to the Invertebrate Community in the Milkweed Patch
By Ba Rea, Karen Oberhauser, and Michael A. Quinn
Bas Relief Publishing Group, 2003

Category: Field Guide

I have spent a good deal of my reading time this summer poring over field guides. Sometimes I am trying to identify a creature I spotted in the field, other times I am reviewing the guide for possible inclusion in the backmatter of my citizen science book. I have found good field guides and not-so-good field guides; MILKWEED, MONARCHS AND MORE is one of my new favorites.

This little guide is the only one you’ll need to identify plants and insects living in a milkweed meadow. The small size is great for carrying into the field, though maybe not so great for old eyes like mine. Nonetheless, it is a cool tool for kid and adults who dig hanging out in the milkweed meadow, or who are interested in insects, particularly the beloved monarch butterfly.

Plus, if you owned one, you could easily identify all these creatures:

© Loree Griffin Burns

© Loree Griffin Burns

© Loree Griffin Burns

© Loree Griffin Burns

© Loree Griffin Burns

(Go ahead, guess. I’ll post the answers in a comment below.)

Two more great reasons to own this field guide:

Buying a copy through MonarchWatch supports monarch butterfly conservation and citizen science.

Owners would make fantastic Monarch Larval Monitoring Project volunteers.

BUG BOY
by Eric Luper
FSG, 2009

BUG BOY, the much-anticipated second novel by my friend and critique partner, Eric Luper, hits bookshelves everywhere TODAY. Congratulations, Eric!

Here’s the flap copy: “Set amid the rough backstretch of 1934 Saratoga horse racing, this edge-of-your-saddle read follows the course of a young jockey whose rise to glory is accompanied by ever-increasing pressure to do something that could leave him trampled in the dirt.”

Honestly, how can you resist?

It was a treat to watch this book evolve from the germ of an idea into the gritty, breakneck historical novel it has become, and I am thrilled to start shouting from the rooftops about it. Treat yourself to this one, friends, and enjoy the ride.

(ps. There is a horse in this novel I am particularly fond of. Give the book a read and see if you can guess which it is!)

WRITING CREATIVE NONFICTION
Edited by Carolyn Forché and Philip Gerard
Story Press, 2001

I got this book as a Christmas gift, but only recently began thumbing through it. I enjoy reading about other writer’s and how they work, especially when I am immersed in work myself. I particularly enjoy mention of those places where another writer struggles. For example, in her essay The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Writer, Robin Hemley says: One of the greatest difficulties for the writer of longer nonfiction is figuring out the structure of the book. For me, this has been one of my major hurdles, why I seem to stew about a book for a year or so before coming to an understanding of what I’m writing about and how to go about writing it.

Well, then, I am in good shape. Structure I’ve got. An opening chapter? Not so much. But I’ve settled on a nice structure, I think, and that’s something. At least to me … and Robin Hemley.

Here are some other gems from the early pages of WRITING CREATIVE NONFICTION:

… above all else write about something to which you feel some emotional or psychological tie.

Alan Cheuse in his essay Finding a Story, or Using the Whole Pig

I write because you can play on the page like a child left alone in sand.

Terry Tempest Williams in his essay Why I Write

Every writer ought to have to read her narrative to an audience of three hundred people and learn, by the shuffling of their feet, where the storytelling flags.

Philip Furia, in his essay As Time Goes By: Creating Biography