10 BEAUTIFUL NATURE STORIES
As we continue our exploration of beautiful stories happening right now, we focus today on a diverse stories about nature, with eight new books and two films currently being shown at the Sundance Film Festival.
Journalist Jon Mooallem is on a mission: To make the human race more aware of the importance and beauty of wild animals. Half of all species could disappear by the end of the century. Most endangered animals will survive only if conservationists are able to prevail.
Mooallem takes his young daughter out into the field with him as he surveys our wild state of affairs. The book also takes us on a tour of our environmental cultural history, including examples such as Thomas Jefferson’s celebrations of early abundance, the origins of the teddy bear, and the hippies’ fascination with whales.
Wild Ones stories are focused on three modern-day endangered species: the polar bear, victimized by climate change; the rare Lange’s metalmark butterfly, a victim of urban sprawl; and the whooping crane, whose migration patterns have been messed up by a confluence of human impacts.
Wild Ones merges reportage, science, and history into a set of stories that will have you thinking differently about wild animals and their role in our collective world.
"Ambitious and fascinating... [Mooallem] seamlessly blends reportage from the front lines of wildlife conservation with a lively cultural history of animals in America... This is not a book about wilderness; it’s a book about us." --New York Times Book Review
“A thoughtful parable of Americans’ complicated relations with conservationists and the wildlife they protect.” —The New Yorker
The Penguin Press (2013)
2. CREATURES OF THE KINGDOM: STORIES OF ANIMALS AND NATURE
"DRAMATIC...ENTHRALLING...EXPERTLY CRAFTED...Michener treats each of these creatures with fundamental respect, and in many cases, admiration and awe, if not outright love."
--The Virginian-Pilot & The Ledger-Star
“Creatures of the Kingdom: Stories of Animals and Nature,” by James A. Michener, is a collection of sixteen wonderful stories selected from Michener's most popular books--including one story never before published in paperback.
Sit back and dive deep into the secret lives of animals and the hidden world of nature.
"Contain[s] the dramatic elements of a life--the wonder of birth, rites of passage, lots of conflict, much of it physical and bloody, and death...As characters in a Michener novel, a beaver can know loneliness, a buffalo can bide his time, a salmon can feel encouraged, and a woolly mammoth can 'luxuriate' in the ecological rewards of a plains fire."
--Boston Sunday Herald
Dial Press Trade Paperback (2014)
3. A SEED IS SLEEPY
“A Seed Is Sleepy,” by award winning artist Dianna Hutts Aston, and author Sylvia Long is a gorgeous and informative children’s book, about seeds.
It is a is follow-up to An Egg Is Quiet (2006). Both books are beautifully illustrated introductions to an aspect of the natural world. The large watercolor spreads are gorgeous. The phrasing is sweet. And helpful charts, depicting a seed's growth into a plant, deliver some basic botany lessons.
Chronicle Books LLC (2013)
4. ICE DOGS
“Ice Dogs,” by Terry Lynn Johnson, is about a fourteen-year-old Alaskan dogsled racer who loses her way on a routine outing with her dogs. It is a story of survival and mystery that reads like a thriller.
"A page-turner full of white-knuckle action. . . . Readers will be riveted until the end."
—Publishers Weekly
HMH Books for Young Readers (2014)
5. THE MEADOW
“The Meadow,” by James Galvin, tells about the ranch life of one family as it spans a hundred-year history living on a beautiful mountain meadow on the Colorado/Wyoming border.
Holt Paperbacks (2014)
6. CANYON OF DREAMS: STORIES FROM GRAND CANYON HISTORY
“Canyon of Dreams: Stories from Grand Canyon History,” by Don Lago, tells ancient stories, from early indigenous people up to today’s tourists.
Some of the stories in between include the story of Edwin Hubble, who came to the canyon in 1928 to test it as a site for the world’s greatest observatory; the Apollo astronauts, who came to practice their lunar walks, to name a few.
University of Utah Press (2014)
7. LAND OF LITTLE RIVERS: A STORY IN PHOTOS OF CATSKILL FLY FISHING
“Land of Little Rivers: A Story in Photos of Catskill Fly Fishing,” by Austin M. Francis, follow the Beaverkill, Willowemoc, Neversink, Esopus, Schoharie, and Delaware-the rivers, as traversed by angling pioneers Thaddeus Norris, Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, Theodore Gordon, among others.
Beyond the gorgeous photographs and text, Land of Little Rivers presents historical and physical profiles of the rivers; classic rods, reels, and flies; and engaging stories of the people, events, and developments that form the Catskill fly-fishing tradition.
Famed photographer and avid fly fisher Enrico Ferorelli, a regular contributor to National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines, together with Francis, have produced an exquisite, museum-quality work.
Skyhorse Publishing (1999)
8. BARBARA KINGSOLVER'S WORLD: NATURE, ART, AND THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
“Barbara Kingsolver's World: Nature, Art, and the Twenty-First Century,” by Linda Wagner-Martin, surveys Kingsolver’s stories about the disadvantaged, the politically troubled, and other distressed characters against the backdrop of their natural worlds.
Bloomsbury Academic (2014)
9. CHOREOGRAPHY
This is a simple yet brilliant film, showing donkeys as they gaze at those who gaze at them.
Cast and Credits
Directors: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
Cinematographers: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
Editors: David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
Producers: Deborah and Dale Smith
Sound Editor: Douglas Moffat
Colorist: Dan Stuyck
10. DINOSAUR 13
On August 12, 1990, paleontologist Peter Larson and his team from the Black Hills Institute unearthed the largest, most complete Tyrannosaurus rex ever found. They named it Sue.
Dinosaur 13 tells the story of the battle which later ensued, as the U.S. government, world-class museums, Native American tribes, and competing paleontologists each tried to claim ownership of the 65-million-year-old treasure.
Cast and Credits
Director: Todd Miller
Producer: Todd Miller
Cinematographer: Thomas Petersen
Composer: Matt Morton
Read more about Beautiful Stories, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact in our posts throughout this week, including 10 Beautiful Sundance Films.
Enter this week’s BN Competition. Our theme this week is Beautiful Stories. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 01.26.14.
Photo Credits:
1) Photo: Courtesy of Raven Dreaming. A butterfly that looks similar to a Lang’s metalmark.
2) Image: Courtesy of The Penguin Press. Wild Ones: A Sometimes Dismaying, Weirdly Reassuring Story About Looking at People Looking at Animals in America.
3) Image: Courtesy of Dial Press Trade Paperback. Creatures of the Kingdom: Stories of Animals and Nature.
4) Image: Courtesy of Chronicle Books LLC. A Seed Is Sleepy.
5) Image: Courtesy of HMH Books for Young Readers. Ice Dogs.
6) Image: Courtesy of Holt Paperbacks. The Meadow.
7) Photo: Courtesy of University of Utah Press. Canyon of Dreams.
8) Image: Courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing. Land of Little Rivers.
9) Image: Courtesy of Bloomsbury Academic. Barbara Kingsolver’s World.
10) Image: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival. Choreography.
11) Photo: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival. Dinosaur 13.
12) Photo: Courtesy of Marcella Purnama.
