Buzz (juvenile nonfiction)

     One of the challenges of the Orono Public Library summer reading challenge (not to be confused with the readathon) is to check out a book with a flower on its cover. Easy peasy, right?...

     ...Wrong. I looked through the new YA, juvenile, and even picture book fiction and found none. I got desperate enough to scan adult fiction. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Then I tried juvenile nonfiction and found Buzz: A Guide to Bugs and Bees 🐝 and How to Spot Them written by Richard "Bugman" Jones and illustrated by Sara Boccaccini Meadows.

     I saw immediately that it was much more than a list check off. It's the perfect book to read this time of year when insects are most abundant. We admire the beauty and grace of some--say butterflies and dragonflies. We feel less affectionate towards mosquitoes and those creatures who devour our carefully nurtured gardens. We pretty much ignore the rest.

     Jones, an insect enthusiast since childhood, wants us to be more aware of how complex and amazing and diverse our six legged fellow Earth inhabitants are. Readers can find the answers to many questions:

*How (and why) do fireflies create light?

*How do butterflies evolve from drab cocoon to beautiful and graceful winged creatures?

and *what are some of the weird things insects sometimes dine on?

     Text is nicely complimented by vivid and sometimes gorgeous illustrations. Buzz is a wonderful read that can be so much more. Observing these fascinating invertebrates can be a great outdoor activity for curious kids and families. 

     This I know from experience. As a child I spent many enchanted hours studying, observing, and collecting insects. In fact when Mom took Harriet and me to Mexico she got me a permit to bring insect specimens into America. You should have seen the look on the customs man's face when a 10-year-old produced this government document!

On a purrrsonal note, I had run out of library books and was dipping into my personal emergency stash. So when I stopped at the Orono Public Library on my way to the gardens I picked out seven YA novels, sure I had no inter library loans waiting for me. WRONG! There were six. So now I have thirteen books to read and review in three weeks. Guess I better step up my reading game. 

Monday evening meteorologists had predicted extreme weather storms with hail spawning tornadoes for Tuesday night. You'd better believe it scared me. Hail could destroy my flowers. But we didn't get a thing except maybe light rain. Thank goodness!

A great big shout out goes out to the people who deliver ILLs from library to library. 

Jules Hathaway 

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Side two

This is the second side. I checked off my eighth challenge Sunday when I played a beanbag toss game. I get to turn this in today if community garden isn't canceled by rain. 

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Side one

This is the first side of the bookmark that qualifies me for the Orono Public Library summer reading challenge prize drawing. Of course I've read way more than eight books.

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Squirrel #2

This little beauty dropped in on me and Eugene at camp. 

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Squirrel 1

This little acrobat was quite adept at raiding my mother-in-law's bird feeders.

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Body Electric (adult nonfiction)

     Elizabeth Allan heads up the higher education program I got my masters in. She has managed the teaching and research requirements for tenured professorship while raising a family. Wonder woman's secret identity? And she takes a personal interest in each student. I greatly respect and look up to her.

     My very first semester back in 2018 she impressed upon my classmates and me the importance of regular study breaks. After a certain amount of seat time we were to get up and do something active--maybe laundry, walking, whatever got us moving. This was a key element in academic success. It was the opposite of the nose to the grindstone approach taken by most academics I'd previously encountered. I loved it. Each time I came back from a break I felt a renewal of my energy, curiosity, and ability to engage with the material.

     But she didn't just preach. She incorporated this into her teaching. Regularly during classes she divided us into groups and assigned us topics. After the allotted time each group would report our findings to the class. Several hour long classes just flew by.

     Manoush Zomorodi, author of Body Electric: The Hidden Health Costs of the Digital Age and New Science to Reclaim Your Well-being, would say that Elizabeth was giving us a key not only to academic success, but to life long health and well-being. 

     When my Adam was a little boy he wanted to be a construction worker like his dad whom he thought hung the moon and the stars. Eugene said "No. I want you to work with your head, not your hands." 

     Humankind as a whole is rapidly getting away from physical movement not only on the job but in the realms of home and leisure. Why bowl or go out with friends when there's TV and social media? The accessibility of screens has really accelerated the trend.

     Recent science has shown the harm this sedentary life does to our minds and bodies. Zomorodi fills readers on all the ways this happens. But she holds out a very strong ray of hope for us all. And it's not through specialists or drugs or anything obscenely expensive. It's through including get off your butt and do something active breaks in your day.

     In 2023 Zomorodi recruited NPR listeners to participate in an experiment by incorporating movement breaks into their days. Over 20,000 people participated. The positive results were very strong. From participants' narratives she was able to create a set of best practices. I certainly learned a lot and I bet you will too. The text is quite accessible and there is a beautiful blend of research and personal stories. 

     The challenge we now face is getting workplaces to see the benefits of movement breaks and incorporating them into our practices and cultures. 

     I would recommend Body Electric to anyone who is concerned about the effects of a screen centered, sedentary life style and to parents. Remember our kids can lead pretty sedentary lives between school and home where screens too often take the place of active play. 

     BTW while I was reading and reviewing Body Electric I took regular breaks for stuff like dishes, laundry which in the summer involves hanging clothes outside, room cleaning, getting the mail, walking, exercise biking, dancing, and--my favorite--playing with my sweet cat, Tobago. 

On a purrrsonal note, I had an AWESOME weekend. Both days the weather was perfect--sunny and breezy. After our Governers breakfast Saturday Eugene and I went on a road trip all the way to Presque Isle. For people unfamiliar with Maine geography, that's almost as far as you can get without crossing over into Canada. We saw wildlife including deer 🦌. We stopped at lots of yard sales and got plenty of treasures. My favorites were a professional looking backpack for when I get a student services job and an old fashioned button jar. We got subs and had a picnic lunch. I spent the evening reading near my flowers 💐. Sunday I spent most of the day reading for the readathon. In the evening there was an ice cream social put on by Black Bear Mutual Aid Fund and the Town of Orono behind the Orono Public Library. It drew quite a lively crowd including plenty of kids. I was, of course, paparazzi. I had a wonderful time time taking pictures and hanging with friends. It was a truly enchanted evening. I had a special treat: regular ice cream--lemon sorbet. Heavenly!!! 

A great big shout out goes out to Dr. Elizabeth Allan--exemplary teacher, researcher, leader, and, human being. The world is better for having her in it. And I am a better version of me from her presence in my life and heart.

Jules Hathaway 

     

     

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Our America (adult nonfiction)

     Ken Burns' Our America is a photographic chronicle of the good, the bad, and the ugly in United States history. It's beautifully simple in format. Each page layout consists of a black and white photograph. They go in chronological order from the invention of the camera up through the 21st Century. The illustration notes in the back tell the stories behind them. The photos are the work of this nation's greatest photographers--artists like Margaret Bourke-White, Dorothea Lange, and Lewis Hine as well as lesser known and unknown picturetakers. 

     Some of the pictured are very famous people who played major roles in this nation's history--people like presidents, Supreme Court justices, and Civil Rights legends. Some are people known only to family and friends--soldiers, child laborers, and desperately poor folks standing in Depression era breadlines. The photographers often capture the dignity and individuality of the latter. A 1912 picture taken in Washington, D.C. shows the resolute determination on the faces of often orphaned and homeless children who earned a meager living hawking newspapers on the streets. 

     Some pictures are of America's finer moments. But this country's evils are also on display. A picture of an enslaved man shows his back covered with a network of deep scars from whippings. A picture of dead soldiers brings home the terrible cost of the Civil War. People express grief and shock after a church bombing that killed four young girls. 

     Sometimes the setting is the story as in the gorgeous photos of national parks and the architectural masterpiece crafted by human hands.

     I'd call this an investment book. You can keep coming back to enjoy it, sometimes with different intentions. There are no wrong ways to enjoy it. It would be of special interest to people with a lively interest in the past or folks like me who love the artistry and inspiration that photography can be at its best.

On a purrrsonal note, I've enjoyed taking pictures since I got my first camera. When my kids were young I took pictures to preserve memories and share with my mother who lived about 1,000 miles away. As photography became digital I documented my life and photographed events for organizations, once filling in for a professional who last minute ditched Bangor Public Library right before a reading festival. A fun hobby turned into a passion after the stroke. I found myself unable to do my volunteer specialty--shelf reading. I promised the librarians I'd find another way to make myself useful. Photography was it. The first summer I took pictures of the children's garden magic happened. The kids brought out the best in me. They were so natural, so engaged in their activities. I fell in love with the art. Now I'm figuring out how to create a portfolio and listing photography as a skill on my resume. 

A great big shout out goes out to the photographers who created the pictures and Burns for bringing them together and making them accessible. 

Jules Hathaway 

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