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NEARER NATURE by Jim Arnosky Kirkus Star

NEARER NATURE

By

Pub Date: Aug. 1st, 1996
Publisher: Lothrop

For 20 years Arnosky (I See Animals Hiding, 1995, etc.) has lived on a Vermont farm ""tucked back against the mountains,"" far from main roads, cities, and villages. Detailed notes he took during a seven-month period in 1987 were expanded into this book, which contains not only descriptions of what he observed on the farm's 50+ acres but also his reflections on what he learned from the land and its creatures across the seasons. From scrutiny of tracks in the snow to the birthing of lambs to the sorrow of losing part of a noble old maple, Arnosky offers windows into the natural world as few readers experience it. This book is about life and death, grief and celebration: With spring comes rebirth, the first flowers, and other recurring miracles of new life on the land. Arnosky makes what he sees visible to readers, through his choice of words and in exquisite black-and-white drawings. This is a book to be savored, not only for the information it conveys but for its affirmation of the beauty of nature.