We hope you find something you’ll enjoy reading on our list of books for kids and adults. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Books for Adults
Extinct and Endangered: Insects in Peril contains vivid, full-page portraits by macro photographer Levon Biss of a vanishing world of insects found from the collection of the American Museum of Natural History.
Grizzly Bear Science and the Art of a Wilderness Life by Bruce McLellan mixes chapters on grizzly behaviour and ecology with the story of a family that built a life in the wilderness in order to study the bears at close quarters.
Instead: Navigating the Adventures of a Child-free Life by Maria Coffey tackles the universal themes of choice and consequence, agency and fate, capturing Maria Coffey’s adventurous life through her biggest decisions along the way.
Knowing the Trees: Discover the Forest from Seed to Snag by Ken Keffer is a fact-filled, beautifully illustrated guide to the life cycle of a forest.
Of Time And Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell by Sy Montgomery relates the hope and healing she observes while working in a rehabilitation facility for turtles during the pandemic.
In Raincoast Power, a novel by G. A. Packman, an environmental consultant with flexible morals, and a young woman eager to save her outdoor tourism business join forces to fight a property development that would transform the pristine rainforest into a toxic hot spot.
The Economy of Sparrows, a debut novel by naturalist Trevor Herriot, explores family trauma, contemporary agriculture, and habitat loss on the Canadian Prairies.
The Eloquence of the Sardine: Extraordinary Encounters Beneath the Sea by Bill François brings the inner workings of fish to life - their language, their emotions, their societal rituals.
In Wildlife Congregations: A Priest's Year of Gaggles, Colonies and Murders by the Salish Sea, Laura Dykstra documents her encounters with large gatherings of wild creatures in the lower Fraser watershed, moving from the descriptive to the weird and wonderful.
Wild Lives: The World’s Most Extraordinary Wildlife is a celebration of the extraordinary diversity of species that inhabit the planet. Photographs by Art Wolfe are accompanied by essays on wildlife conservation and recovery by Gregory Green.
Books for Kids
Coyote’s Wild Home by Barbara Kingsolver and Lily Kingsolver spotlights coyote and human experiences of the natural world. Alternating spreads follow Coyote Pup, “old enough for his first hunt”, and city girl Diana on a camping excursion with her grandfather.
Starting in the distant past, colourful images in Little Land by Diana Sudyka showcase a “little bit of land” that changes as the years progress, evolving from an aquatic landscape into a home for early humans and on to the environmental damage of the present day.
The Animal Adventurer’s Guide by Susie Spikol provides 50 hands-on activities to get closer to wildlife, from tracking wild animals and starting an animal scat collection to making snail slime and catching a frog bare-handed.
Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/apmckinlay/21989312310
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