FROM THE PUBLISHER

Netting crabs on the New Jersey shore, ice-boating in Maine, raking for quahogs at low tide along Cape Cod, playing beneath majestic oak trees in Connecticut - these are among the many colorful encounters with nature captured in Stories from Where We Live. For centuries, people have learned about the animals, plants, and places around them from stories passed from generation to generation. This book, the first in a series that will cover the eco-regions of North America, tells about life along the shore from Nova Scotia to Delaware using stories, poems, and excerpts from journals and memoirs. For many kids, a love of nature begins with stories. This book connects kids with estuaries and cranberry bogs, fishermen and Indians, stories of adventure and great places and wild lives. It inspires them to explore, observe, ponder, and protect the place they call home.

FROM THE CRITICS

Children's Literature

This anthology offers historical and contemporary accounts by authors of all ages and degrees of renown. The stories, essays, journal entries, legends and poems from both literary and oral traditions depict the topography of the region and its plant and animal inhabitants. The varied stories are grouped into four categories. Adventures include that of a boy who frees "Big Claw" from captivity. "Great Places" include a description by Thoreau of the wild beaches of early Cape Cod. "Reapers and Sowers" shows how people draw from and give sustenance to nature. "Wild Lives" includes Sarah Orne Jewett's story of a girl torn between pleasing her first love and protecting a white heron. Following the nearly fifty stories are appendices with maps and scientific descriptions of the ecoregion, a list of parks and preserves, and recommended reading. The maps and illustrations appear authentic and professional. The book is intended to capture the imagination of children and to foster an appreciation and concern for their environment. With a web site guide, the book promises to be a valuable teaching tool. It would also be entertaining for an entire family. First in the series of "Stories from Where We Live." 2000, Milkweed Editions, $19.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Carol Raker Collins

VOYA

This first book of the new Stories from Where We Live series gathers forty-eight stories, poems, journal entries, excerpts, and essays that maneuver the literary traveler down the North Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Delaware. Divided into four themes, Adventure, Great Places, Reapers and Sowers, and Wild Lives, the collection includes authors who range from the traditional—Henry David Thoreau and Alice Stone Blackwell—to the more contemporary—Nikki Giovanni, Farley Mowat, and Joseph Bruchac. Each piece supplies a brief biography and background historical or geographical information. Whether personal recollection or fictitious account, all share the common thread of the Atlantic Ocean coast. A lively nineteenth-century sea chantey, "Cape Cod Girls," joins Helen Keller's exceptionally poignant A Summer in Brewster, which captures the exhilaration and terror of her first ocean visit. In Blueberries, a young Micmac begins a day of picking as a girl and ends as a woman. Biologist Jennifer Stansbury's Fledgling Summer recollects her summer job collecting data on terns on Long Island. Appendixes feature black-and-white illustrations of coastal habitats, animals and plants, and parks and preserves. A map locates the setting of each selection. Unfortunately, students might not read this book readily despite the obvious love and effort put forth in its creation. Regional proximity might dictate the book's readership because of personal or environmental connections, but librarians and educators conscious of the importance of bringing literature into all areas of the curriculum can promote this book to a greater audience. Keep an eye out for future publications of this specialinterest series. Illus. Maps. Further Reading. VOYA CODES: 5Q 2P M J S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2000, Milkweed Editions, 280p, . Ages 12 to Adult. Reviewer: Cheryl Karp Ward SOURCE: VOYA, April 2001 (Vol. 24, No.1)

Internet Book Watch

Stories from Where We Live focuses on regional experiences from dwellers on the North Atlantic coast ages 9 and older, but is recommended in our adult issue because the entire family will relish these stories. From netting crabs on the Jersey shore to outdoors experiences in Delaware, this gathers regional experiences told through stories, poems, and journal entries to provide an inviting collection of tales.