Author: Dan Gemeinhart
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1250196701
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 351
Book Description
"Sometimes a story comes along that just plain makes you want to hug the world. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is Dan Gemeinhart’s finest book yet — and that’s saying something. Your heart needs this joyful miracle of a book." —Katherine Applegate, acclaimed author of The One and Only Ivan and Wishtree A 2020 ILA Teachers’ Choice A 2019 Parents' Choice Award Gold Medal Winner Winner of the 2019 CYBILS Award for Middle Grade Fiction An Amazon Top 20 Children's Book of 2019 A Junior Library Guild Selection Five years. That's how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation. It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash. Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished—the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box—she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days...without him realizing it. Along the way, they'll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there's Gladys... Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all...but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after.” This title has common core connections.
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise
Author: Dan Gemeinhart
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1250196701
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 351
Book Description
"Sometimes a story comes along that just plain makes you want to hug the world. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is Dan Gemeinhart’s finest book yet — and that’s saying something. Your heart needs this joyful miracle of a book." —Katherine Applegate, acclaimed author of The One and Only Ivan and Wishtree A 2020 ILA Teachers’ Choice A 2019 Parents' Choice Award Gold Medal Winner Winner of the 2019 CYBILS Award for Middle Grade Fiction An Amazon Top 20 Children's Book of 2019 A Junior Library Guild Selection Five years. That's how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation. It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash. Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished—the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box—she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days...without him realizing it. Along the way, they'll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there's Gladys... Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all...but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after.” This title has common core connections.
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
ISBN: 1250196701
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 351
Book Description
"Sometimes a story comes along that just plain makes you want to hug the world. The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise is Dan Gemeinhart’s finest book yet — and that’s saying something. Your heart needs this joyful miracle of a book." —Katherine Applegate, acclaimed author of The One and Only Ivan and Wishtree A 2020 ILA Teachers’ Choice A 2019 Parents' Choice Award Gold Medal Winner Winner of the 2019 CYBILS Award for Middle Grade Fiction An Amazon Top 20 Children's Book of 2019 A Junior Library Guild Selection Five years. That's how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation. It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash. Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished—the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box—she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days...without him realizing it. Along the way, they'll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there's Gladys... Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all...but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after.” This title has common core connections.
The Parrot's Perch
Author: Karen Keilt
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1631525727
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 271
Book Description
The Parrot’s Perch opens in 2013, when Karen Keilt, age sixty, receives an invitation to testify at the Brazilian National Truth Commission at the UN in New York. The email sparks memories of her “previous life”—the one she has kept safely bottled up for more than thirty-seven years. Hopeful of helping to raise awareness about ongoing human rights violations in Brazil, she wants to testify, but she anguishes over reliving the horrific events of her youth. In the pages that follow, Keilt tells the story of her life in Brazil—from her exclusive, upper-class lifestyle and dreams of Olympic medals to her turmoil-filled youth. Full of hints of a dark oligarchy in Brazil, corruption, crime, and military interference, The Parrot’s Perch is a searing, sometimes shocking true tale of suffering, struggle—and survival. Karen Keilt lived through the darkest days of Brazil’s military dictatorship. In her courageous and compelling memoir, Keilt narrates an emotionally honest reckoning of her desire to find true happiness. Forbidden by her wealthy family to even mention her imprisonment, torture, and rape, Keilt is forced to make a change that will affect the rest of her life. Seen through her testimony to the Brazilian National Truth Commission at the UN, readers become witnesses to both her vulnerability and her quiet strength.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1631525727
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 271
Book Description
The Parrot’s Perch opens in 2013, when Karen Keilt, age sixty, receives an invitation to testify at the Brazilian National Truth Commission at the UN in New York. The email sparks memories of her “previous life”—the one she has kept safely bottled up for more than thirty-seven years. Hopeful of helping to raise awareness about ongoing human rights violations in Brazil, she wants to testify, but she anguishes over reliving the horrific events of her youth. In the pages that follow, Keilt tells the story of her life in Brazil—from her exclusive, upper-class lifestyle and dreams of Olympic medals to her turmoil-filled youth. Full of hints of a dark oligarchy in Brazil, corruption, crime, and military interference, The Parrot’s Perch is a searing, sometimes shocking true tale of suffering, struggle—and survival. Karen Keilt lived through the darkest days of Brazil’s military dictatorship. In her courageous and compelling memoir, Keilt narrates an emotionally honest reckoning of her desire to find true happiness. Forbidden by her wealthy family to even mention her imprisonment, torture, and rape, Keilt is forced to make a change that will affect the rest of her life. Seen through her testimony to the Brazilian National Truth Commission at the UN, readers become witnesses to both her vulnerability and her quiet strength.
Chase's Calendar of Events 2019
Author: Editors of Chase's
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1641432640
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 753
Book Description
Find out what's going on any day of the year, anywhere across the globe! The world’s date book, Chase's is the definitive day-by-day resource of what America and the world are celebrating and commemorating. From national days to celebrity birthdays, from historical anniversaries to astronomical phenomena, from award ceremonies and sporting events to religious festivals and carnivals, Chase's is the must-have reference used by experts and professionals—a one-stop shop with 12,500 entries for everything that is happening now or is worth remembering from the past. Completely updated for 2019, Chase's also features extensive appendices as well as a companion website that puts the power of Chase's at the user's fingertips. 2019 is packed with special events and observances, including The International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements The Transit of Mercury National days and public holidays of every nation on Earth Celebrations and observances of Leonardo da Vinci's 500th death anniversary The 100th anniversary of the 1919 World Series Scandal The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing The 200th birthdays of Queen Victoria and Walt Whitman The 150th birth anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Jackie Robinson Scores of new holidays and national days Birthdays of new world leaders, office holders, and breakout stars And much more! All from the reference book that NPR's Planet Money calls the "Oxford English Dictionary of holidays."
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1641432640
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 753
Book Description
Find out what's going on any day of the year, anywhere across the globe! The world’s date book, Chase's is the definitive day-by-day resource of what America and the world are celebrating and commemorating. From national days to celebrity birthdays, from historical anniversaries to astronomical phenomena, from award ceremonies and sporting events to religious festivals and carnivals, Chase's is the must-have reference used by experts and professionals—a one-stop shop with 12,500 entries for everything that is happening now or is worth remembering from the past. Completely updated for 2019, Chase's also features extensive appendices as well as a companion website that puts the power of Chase's at the user's fingertips. 2019 is packed with special events and observances, including The International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements The Transit of Mercury National days and public holidays of every nation on Earth Celebrations and observances of Leonardo da Vinci's 500th death anniversary The 100th anniversary of the 1919 World Series Scandal The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing The 200th birthdays of Queen Victoria and Walt Whitman The 150th birth anniversary of Mohandas Gandhi and the 100th birth anniversary of Jackie Robinson Scores of new holidays and national days Birthdays of new world leaders, office holders, and breakout stars And much more! All from the reference book that NPR's Planet Money calls the "Oxford English Dictionary of holidays."
Mother Nature's Plan
Author: Willie Bevan
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1039149960
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 397
Book Description
With the world’s food supply controlled by greedy, evil corporations, the Earth is dying and needs help. Mother Nature and Father Time knew this day would come and have devised a plan. Long ago, they sent twelve families of magical creatures—two elven changelings, two skyroamers, and several gnomes—to different forests around the globe, with a chest and a codex. To help save Earth and humanity, the leader of each family is to unlock their chest using the codex on a special date. Though most of the families hide their chest and codex to protect them when they arrive at their new homes, one family doesn’t. Wanting humans gone and elves and gnomes to rule Earth, the sly gnome Napoleon opens his chest right away and tricks his family to help him persuade big corporations to take land away from small farmers and poison the Earth with chemicals. With big corporate farms affecting their homes, the other magical families are having difficulty retrieving their chests and codices. Gnomes Mik and Min were in charge of hiding their family’s codex, but when the day to open their chest is only weeks away, they can’t seem to find it either! Will the families find their chests and codices in time or will they be too late? The first book in the Saga of Mik and Min series, Mother Nature’s Plan is an enchanting and adventurous tale about the importance of working together to save and care for our one-and-only Earth.
Publisher: FriesenPress
ISBN: 1039149960
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 397
Book Description
With the world’s food supply controlled by greedy, evil corporations, the Earth is dying and needs help. Mother Nature and Father Time knew this day would come and have devised a plan. Long ago, they sent twelve families of magical creatures—two elven changelings, two skyroamers, and several gnomes—to different forests around the globe, with a chest and a codex. To help save Earth and humanity, the leader of each family is to unlock their chest using the codex on a special date. Though most of the families hide their chest and codex to protect them when they arrive at their new homes, one family doesn’t. Wanting humans gone and elves and gnomes to rule Earth, the sly gnome Napoleon opens his chest right away and tricks his family to help him persuade big corporations to take land away from small farmers and poison the Earth with chemicals. With big corporate farms affecting their homes, the other magical families are having difficulty retrieving their chests and codices. Gnomes Mik and Min were in charge of hiding their family’s codex, but when the day to open their chest is only weeks away, they can’t seem to find it either! Will the families find their chests and codices in time or will they be too late? The first book in the Saga of Mik and Min series, Mother Nature’s Plan is an enchanting and adventurous tale about the importance of working together to save and care for our one-and-only Earth.
The Bird King
Author: G. Willow Wilson
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN: 0802146848
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340
Book Description
One of NPR’s 50 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Decade: A fifteenth-century palace mapmaker must hide his powers in the time of the Inquisition . . . Award-winning author G. Willow Wilson’s debut novel Alif the Unseen was an NPR and Washington Post Best Book of the Year and established her as a vital American Muslim literary voice. Now she delivers The Bird King, an epic journey set during the reign of the last sultan in the Iberian peninsula at the height of the Spanish Inquisition. Fatima is a concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain. Her dearest friend, Hassan, the palace mapmaker and the one man who doesn’t leer at her with desire, has a secret—he can draw maps of places he’s never seen and bend the shape of reality. When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan’s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realizing that she will see Hassan’s gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule. With their freedoms at stake, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan and escape the palace walls? As the two traverse Spain with the help of a clever jinn to find safety, The Bird King asks us to consider what love is and the price of freedom at a time when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate. “Wilson has a deft hand with myth and with magic, and the kind of smart, honest writing mind that knits together and bridges cultures and people.” —Neil Gaiman, author of Norse Mythology “A triumph . . . one of the best fantasy writers working today.” —BookPage “A treasure-house of a novel, thrilling, tender, funny, and achingly gorgeous. I loved it.” —Lev Grossman, author of the Magicians trilogy
Publisher: Grove Press
ISBN: 0802146848
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340
Book Description
One of NPR’s 50 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Decade: A fifteenth-century palace mapmaker must hide his powers in the time of the Inquisition . . . Award-winning author G. Willow Wilson’s debut novel Alif the Unseen was an NPR and Washington Post Best Book of the Year and established her as a vital American Muslim literary voice. Now she delivers The Bird King, an epic journey set during the reign of the last sultan in the Iberian peninsula at the height of the Spanish Inquisition. Fatima is a concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain. Her dearest friend, Hassan, the palace mapmaker and the one man who doesn’t leer at her with desire, has a secret—he can draw maps of places he’s never seen and bend the shape of reality. When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan’s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realizing that she will see Hassan’s gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule. With their freedoms at stake, what will Fatima risk to save Hassan and escape the palace walls? As the two traverse Spain with the help of a clever jinn to find safety, The Bird King asks us to consider what love is and the price of freedom at a time when the West and the Muslim world were not yet separate. “Wilson has a deft hand with myth and with magic, and the kind of smart, honest writing mind that knits together and bridges cultures and people.” —Neil Gaiman, author of Norse Mythology “A triumph . . . one of the best fantasy writers working today.” —BookPage “A treasure-house of a novel, thrilling, tender, funny, and achingly gorgeous. I loved it.” —Lev Grossman, author of the Magicians trilogy
The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog
Author: Nancy Ellis-Bell
Publisher: Broadway Books
ISBN: 0307406288
Category : Macaws
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
A touching, laugh-out-loud memoir that reminds us that love can come from the most unexpected places Nancy Ellis-Bell has always had a love–and a weakness–for animals. She’d already spent a lifetime taking in rescue animals when she and her husband brought home an exotic, wild-caught, one-footed macaw. And so it was that Sarah came into their lives–and changed them forever. Life with Sarah was anything but average. With a huge beak, raptor claws, and a four-foot wingspan, Sarah quickly staked her claim on anything and everything around, including the dogs’ toys, the humans’ food, and the prized furniture. But just when taking in this rowdy, unruly creature began to feel like an utter disaster, Nancy was able to coax Sarah to spread her atrophied wings–weak from years of being confined to a cage–and fly.
Publisher: Broadway Books
ISBN: 0307406288
Category : Macaws
Languages : en
Pages : 258
Book Description
A touching, laugh-out-loud memoir that reminds us that love can come from the most unexpected places Nancy Ellis-Bell has always had a love–and a weakness–for animals. She’d already spent a lifetime taking in rescue animals when she and her husband brought home an exotic, wild-caught, one-footed macaw. And so it was that Sarah came into their lives–and changed them forever. Life with Sarah was anything but average. With a huge beak, raptor claws, and a four-foot wingspan, Sarah quickly staked her claim on anything and everything around, including the dogs’ toys, the humans’ food, and the prized furniture. But just when taking in this rowdy, unruly creature began to feel like an utter disaster, Nancy was able to coax Sarah to spread her atrophied wings–weak from years of being confined to a cage–and fly.
White Bird
Author: Blaine Wright
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1645444074
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 348
Book Description
White Bird is a work of historical fiction, set to the background of West Central Idaho during the early stages of US military escalation into the Vietnam conflict. The birth of Daniel Knight on the storm ravaged slopes of White Bird Pass during the winter of 1950 presage the reawakening of the "Great Animal Spirits" of ancient Nez Perce lore. Born to a native heritage from a woman of the people, who died in childbirth, and an Anglo-American bloodline from a father, who abandoned him at birth, Daniel comes of age in 1963, unaware of his ties to destiny. In an event-filled one-year span of time, he must forge lasting bonds of friendship, face unforeseen enemies, and learn the true meaning of "courage, honor, and loyalty to love." Tied to destiny's path, Daniel will grow from self-imposed solitude into maturity as a leader of men and a warrior in the greatest traditions of his ancient heritage.
Publisher: Page Publishing Inc
ISBN: 1645444074
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 348
Book Description
White Bird is a work of historical fiction, set to the background of West Central Idaho during the early stages of US military escalation into the Vietnam conflict. The birth of Daniel Knight on the storm ravaged slopes of White Bird Pass during the winter of 1950 presage the reawakening of the "Great Animal Spirits" of ancient Nez Perce lore. Born to a native heritage from a woman of the people, who died in childbirth, and an Anglo-American bloodline from a father, who abandoned him at birth, Daniel comes of age in 1963, unaware of his ties to destiny. In an event-filled one-year span of time, he must forge lasting bonds of friendship, face unforeseen enemies, and learn the true meaning of "courage, honor, and loyalty to love." Tied to destiny's path, Daniel will grow from self-imposed solitude into maturity as a leader of men and a warrior in the greatest traditions of his ancient heritage.
Bird Set Free, Saved By Grace: A Memoir
Author: Alex Nicole
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1684711657
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 198
Book Description
This book was written for those in need of hope. Bird Set Free, saved by grace details Alex's journey through bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, self-harm, thoughts of suicide, bisexuality, and addiction. She wanted to share her story to help bring hope, understanding, and salvation and to eradicate the lie that anyone is truly alone.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1684711657
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 198
Book Description
This book was written for those in need of hope. Bird Set Free, saved by grace details Alex's journey through bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, self-harm, thoughts of suicide, bisexuality, and addiction. She wanted to share her story to help bring hope, understanding, and salvation and to eradicate the lie that anyone is truly alone.
Song of a Captive Bird
Author: Jasmin Darznik
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0399182330
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • A spellbinding debut novel about the trailblazing Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad, who defied society’s expectations to find her voice and her destiny “A complex and beautiful rendering of [a] vanished country and its scattered people, a reminder of the power and purpose of art, and an ode to female creativity under a patriarchy that repeatedly tries to snuff it out.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) All through her childhood in Tehran, Forugh Farrokhzad is told that Persian daughters should be quiet and modest. She is taught only to obey, but she always finds ways to rebel—gossiping with her sister among the fragrant roses of her mother’s walled garden, venturing to the forbidden rooftop to roughhouse with her three brothers, writing poems to impress her strict, disapproving father, and sneaking out to flirt with a teenage paramour over café glacé. During the summer of 1950, Forugh’s passion for poetry takes flight—and tradition seeks to clip her wings. Forced into a suffocating marriage, Forugh runs away and falls into an affair that fuels her desire to write and to achieve freedom and independence. Forugh’s poems are considered both scandalous and brilliant; she is heralded by some as a national treasure, vilified by others as a demon influenced by the West. She perseveres, finding love with a notorious filmmaker and living by her own rules—at enormous cost. But the power of her writing only grows stronger amid the upheaval of the Iranian revolution. Inspired by Forugh Farrokhzad’s verse, letters, films, and interviews—and including original translations of her poems—this haunting novel uses the lens of fiction to capture the tenacity, spirit, and conflicting desires of a brave woman who represents the birth of feminism in Iran—and who continues to inspire generations of women around the world. Praise for Song of a Captive Bird “If poetry is emotion rendered incendiary, then Forugh Farrokhzad was made of fire. . . . Song of a Captive Bird is an unsparing account of the necessity and consequences of speaking out.”—BookPage “Sometimes, simply choosing whom to love is a political act.”—Vogue “Forugh Farrokhzad’s short life brimmed with controversy and rebellion . . . .This feminist icon inspired Darznik’s imaginative debut.”—Ms.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0399182330
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER • A spellbinding debut novel about the trailblazing Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad, who defied society’s expectations to find her voice and her destiny “A complex and beautiful rendering of [a] vanished country and its scattered people, a reminder of the power and purpose of art, and an ode to female creativity under a patriarchy that repeatedly tries to snuff it out.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) All through her childhood in Tehran, Forugh Farrokhzad is told that Persian daughters should be quiet and modest. She is taught only to obey, but she always finds ways to rebel—gossiping with her sister among the fragrant roses of her mother’s walled garden, venturing to the forbidden rooftop to roughhouse with her three brothers, writing poems to impress her strict, disapproving father, and sneaking out to flirt with a teenage paramour over café glacé. During the summer of 1950, Forugh’s passion for poetry takes flight—and tradition seeks to clip her wings. Forced into a suffocating marriage, Forugh runs away and falls into an affair that fuels her desire to write and to achieve freedom and independence. Forugh’s poems are considered both scandalous and brilliant; she is heralded by some as a national treasure, vilified by others as a demon influenced by the West. She perseveres, finding love with a notorious filmmaker and living by her own rules—at enormous cost. But the power of her writing only grows stronger amid the upheaval of the Iranian revolution. Inspired by Forugh Farrokhzad’s verse, letters, films, and interviews—and including original translations of her poems—this haunting novel uses the lens of fiction to capture the tenacity, spirit, and conflicting desires of a brave woman who represents the birth of feminism in Iran—and who continues to inspire generations of women around the world. Praise for Song of a Captive Bird “If poetry is emotion rendered incendiary, then Forugh Farrokhzad was made of fire. . . . Song of a Captive Bird is an unsparing account of the necessity and consequences of speaking out.”—BookPage “Sometimes, simply choosing whom to love is a political act.”—Vogue “Forugh Farrokhzad’s short life brimmed with controversy and rebellion . . . .This feminist icon inspired Darznik’s imaginative debut.”—Ms.
Adventures of a Louisiana Birder
Author: Marybeth Lima
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807171581
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
This candid and humorous chronicle shows how one woman goes from casual observer to obsessive bird nerd as she traverses Louisiana’s avian paradise. In Adventures of a Louisiana Birder, readers follow Marybeth Lima across her adopted state in search of 300 species of birds. Bisected by the Mississippi flyway and home to 400 miles of coast, Louisiana has a variety of habitats, which serve as a beautiful backdrop to this remarkable journey. In birding circles, some devotees attempt what is known as a “big year,” a bird-sighting challenge to identify as many bird species as possible in a particular geographical area over the course of one year. Lima’s initial effort amounted to 11,626 miles in sixty-one road trips to log an impressive 280 species. But on a subsequent quest to exceed her record, she endures elusive birds, embarrassing misidentifications, and hungry insects in an effort to reach her goal. In the midst of these obstacles, Lima celebrates the camaraderie and friendly competition among fellow birders, from novices to a world-renown ornithologist. Requiring both mental focus and physical agility, birdwatching becomes an active sport through Lima’s narration. She vividly conveys the elation over a rare species seen or heard and the disappointment when one is narrowly missed. An appendix provides the location and date of every species she identifies. Lima’s personal experiences are interwoven with the excitement of tracking down one intriguing species after another. She faces a near-fatal burn accident to her spouse, end-of-life care for her mother-in-law, and Louisiana’s great flood of 2016. In the midst of these situations, her devotion to birding provides a much-needed outlet. “Somewhere in the roiling confluence of birds, locales, and human personalities,” writes Lima, “the center of my heart sings with utter abandon.” Adventures of a Louisiana Birder is the author’s call to a deeper passion for and awareness of Louisiana’s unique natural beauty and vulnerability.
Publisher: LSU Press
ISBN: 0807171581
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
This candid and humorous chronicle shows how one woman goes from casual observer to obsessive bird nerd as she traverses Louisiana’s avian paradise. In Adventures of a Louisiana Birder, readers follow Marybeth Lima across her adopted state in search of 300 species of birds. Bisected by the Mississippi flyway and home to 400 miles of coast, Louisiana has a variety of habitats, which serve as a beautiful backdrop to this remarkable journey. In birding circles, some devotees attempt what is known as a “big year,” a bird-sighting challenge to identify as many bird species as possible in a particular geographical area over the course of one year. Lima’s initial effort amounted to 11,626 miles in sixty-one road trips to log an impressive 280 species. But on a subsequent quest to exceed her record, she endures elusive birds, embarrassing misidentifications, and hungry insects in an effort to reach her goal. In the midst of these obstacles, Lima celebrates the camaraderie and friendly competition among fellow birders, from novices to a world-renown ornithologist. Requiring both mental focus and physical agility, birdwatching becomes an active sport through Lima’s narration. She vividly conveys the elation over a rare species seen or heard and the disappointment when one is narrowly missed. An appendix provides the location and date of every species she identifies. Lima’s personal experiences are interwoven with the excitement of tracking down one intriguing species after another. She faces a near-fatal burn accident to her spouse, end-of-life care for her mother-in-law, and Louisiana’s great flood of 2016. In the midst of these situations, her devotion to birding provides a much-needed outlet. “Somewhere in the roiling confluence of birds, locales, and human personalities,” writes Lima, “the center of my heart sings with utter abandon.” Adventures of a Louisiana Birder is the author’s call to a deeper passion for and awareness of Louisiana’s unique natural beauty and vulnerability.