Loree Griffin Burns: A Life in Books

WINTER WORLD, The Ingenuity of Animal Survival
by Bernd Heinrich
HarperCollins, 2003

Category: Non-fiction for grown-ups


I had planned to read WINTER WORLD over the winter (of course!) but not much goes according to plan around here. And so I found myself enjoying some strange stolen moments in a hammock this past weekend, soaking in a New England spring and a New England winter at the same time …

WINTER WORLD is a meander through the Maine woods in the cold months, guided by biologist and naturalist Bernd Heinrich, and with special attention paid to animals and how they adapt to survive the elements. There were chapters on some of my favorite insects, including ladybugs, butterflies, and honey bees. As is the case with the best nature non-fiction, this book inspired me to get outside and look around. Too much of my outdoor time is spend doing things (exercising, gardening, lying in a hammock and reading!); I forget to stop and SEE.

My favorite quote came from the chapter in which the author admonishes the line of thinking that forbids people from touching butterflies:

The official response of “protecting” these animals by making it illegal for curious kids to handle or collect them assumes that everyone wants to do it. By that logic one could just as well make it illegal to not handle wildlife, because some get enlightened by contact with it. Personally, I think that this is ultimately more useful than everyone being distanced from it. Contact should be encouraged.

Hear, hear! Every human should be allowed (required?) to gently clutch a butterfly in his (or her) grasp, watch it taste his skin with its feet, and wonder as it flits away where is it going? when will it be back?



© Ellen Harasimowicz

THE BACKYARD BEEKEEPER'S HONEY HANDBOOK
by Kim Flottum
Quarry Books, 2009

[Honey] is a complex, complicated, truly unique work of botany, biology, science, art, and possibly God.


I’m back home in Massachusetts and just about resettled at my desk. In addition to unpacking and writing thank you notes to new friends in Maine, I've been spending some time in the kitchen. There is nothing like a week of eating on the road to make you crave a little home-cooked comfort food. And there is nothing like reading THE BACKYARD BEEKEEPER'S HONEY HANDBOOK book to make you crave a little home-cooked honey-flavored comfort food. Like these Honey Pot Cookies:






Can you say yummy? We Burnses heartily approve of this book and its honey recipes!


Okay. Enough cooking and eating. And blogging. I've got some writing to do ...

CLAN APIS
By Jay Hosler, Ph.D.
Active Synapse, 2000

Category: Graphic Novel

I’m still working, working, working on THE HIVE DETECTIVES manuscript. At this stage—the end of the ‘first complete draft’ stage—I am mostly polishing and refining with snippets of fresh writing thrown in as needed.

I’m also still reviewing the cool bee stuff (books, videos, websites, etc) I’ve noted during the last eighteen months … with an eye toward useful materials to include in the book’s back matter. Some of what I have collected is interesting to me, like this website of honey recipes, but won't be particularly interesting to my middle grade readers.

Other things on my list, however, are so freakin' cool that I plan to include them in the backmatter AND to shout about them at every opportunity. Jay Hosler's CLAN APIS falls into this latter category.

CLAN APIS is a graphic novel about honey bees. I know. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect myself. But let me tell you … this is a a totally fun and scientifically accurate graphic novel introduction to the world of the honey bee. I kid you not. It is a honey bee must read.

Hosler is a neurobiologist at Juniata College, where he studies—you guessed it—honey bees. In his spare time he cartoons, mostly about sciencey stuff. Can’t remember the last sciencey cartoon you came across? Then check out Killer Bee, Hosler's cartoon look at the life-or-death struggle of one honey bee scientist. It’s a gem.

Hosler has also explored Darwin's theory of natural selection in comic book form. Do I even need to tell you that THE SANDWALK ADVENTURES is now at the tippy-top of my wish list?

Science rocks! As do scientists who share their work with the world in unexpected and completely effective ways.

FRUITLESS FALL
By Rowan Jacobsen
Bloomsbury, 2008

Category: Non-fiction for adult readers

It is probably impossible to have lived through the last two years and not at least heard about Colony Collapse Disorder, the mysterious ailment that has ravaged the world’s population of managed honeybees. CCD has been covered in every major newspaper and in magazines from The New Yorker to Martha Stewart Living. This fall, several adult books on the topic are being released. Here’s a tip: Rowan Jacobsen’s FRUITLESS FALL is the one to read.

Despite the media frenzy, very few people understand what is and isn’t true about CCD, or what the collapse of the honeybee will mean to humankind. Jacobsen’s straightforward, no-punches-pulled style forces readers to see the honeybee collapse for what it is: yet another indication that bigger is not always better.

If you are at all interested in the subject--and Good Lord, who isn't?--I highly recommend this book. And you can think of it as a primer; once you've read FRUITLESS FALL you will be ready for THE HIVE DETECTIVES, written by yours truly and to be published as part of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's 'Scientists in the Field' series in Spring 2010.

(Yes, I just gave you a homework assignment!)

THE BACKYARD BEEKEEPER
By Kim Flottum
Quarry Books, 2005

Category: Nonfiction for all ages

Of all the beekeeping books I have read in the past eighteen months, this is my favorite by far. It is clearly written, thoroughly illustrated, and beautifully designed. In its pages you will find everything you need to know about keeping bees of your own. (You want to keep bees of your own, don't you?)

THE BACKYARD BEEKEEPER explores the whys and wherefores of the beekeeping business, its equipment, and its tools. It explains basic bee biology, the job of the beekeeper, and the myriad uses for hive products. Among the latter is a chapter of honey recipes, including ‘Honey Dill Dressing over Red-Skinned Potatoes’ and ‘Crispy Honey Cookies’, both of which may have finally convinced my family to let me keep bees of my own.



How can they resist?

By the way, author Kim Flottum also edits the journal Bee Culture, a must-have for beekeepers ... or non-beekeepers who happen to be writing about honey bees. In his June editorial, Flottum said about Colony Collapse Disorder: "Whatever it is, it's still out there and it's still killing bees." The line gives me goose bumps.