“I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.”
― E. B. White, Letters of E. B. White
Just a quick post to update on the Gaia/nature reading Challenge now the first month of the year is over. Will be catching up on posts this week I hope, but in the meantime, just wanted to post a brief summary of the challenge for January. Remember every time you read a Book for the nature challenge in January and February, I will donate a children’s nature-themed book to the one-way library at the Lighthouse a new literacy and creativity centre in Toowoomba. The first post of the year was May’s at Books and Bruschetta she reviewed the wonderful Australian picture book Dry To Dry: The Seasons Of Kakadu. Ticking off the Wonder of a child square on the book bingo for the challenge. May also posted on the 99th Koala for the challenge A Year of Kayaking reviewed Yearning Wild by R. Glendon Brunk a book that looks at life in wild Alaska, and Curlygeek @ The Book Stop posted a great review of The Puma Years by Laura Coleman.
I read Jay Griffiths inspiring Why Rebel and Harry Saddler’s philosophical reflection on covid and conservation Questions raised by Quolls This year I am also adding regular posts on nature-themed writing for younger readers and I kicked off with some of Jackie French’s wonderful wombat books, including the recent Fire wombat, which I thought was a beautiful children’s book that addressed the terrible fires of 2020. I finished off the month of January with one of Jackie French’s adult books, the absolutely delightful A year in the Valley: seasons of content, nature, gardening, recipes and wildlife. Hopewell’s public library of life posted their reading list for the challenge.
And, as a bit of a bonus, Karen at Living on the Downs posted her thoughts on Julia Baird’s wonderful Phosphorescence in a catch-up post from last years Gaia/nature challenge. I hope I haven’t missed anyone’s post, if I have please let me know. You don’t have to blog to participate you can just leave a comment with your thoughts on a book if you like or use a platform like Goodreads or Instagram to record your participation.
Three weeks left to go for February, how many nature-themed books can you read in that time? Remember every book read will result in one more kids book donated to the literacy project at the Lighthouse. I purchased a few last week, but more on that to come. We have a few posts to catch up on hopefully this week, time permitting.
