It’s here! April 23rd release. If you like what you hear in my talks or read in my children’s books, this is the next step. Touch a Butterfly: Wildlife Gardening With Kids is perhaps my most personal book with a traditional publisher. Yes, it’s geared to parents and families, but I think some of my student fans, 5th grade and up, would like sections of it because in it I share not just wildlife gardening and family stories, but also how to approach/study wildlife at close range. It’s a heartfelt sharing of so much of what Jeff and I have learned in wildlife gardening/wildlife observation over the years. Reviewers seem to be getting the joy and spirit of the book so…whew! I’m so glad. And many families and educators shared photos of their kids enjoying nature and totally uplifted the project, making it a community effort. Roost Books has a free pdf of a chapter for free download here. Michelle Cusolito has a related blog post/author interview on her site Polliwog On Safari.

Turn your garden into a hummingbird hotspot, a haven for butterflies, and a thriving ecosystem. This family-friendly guide is my most personal book yet, sharing the wildlife gardening knowledge that Jeff and I have gained over the years.

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Just received a first copy of  my new book, Touch a Butterfly: Wildlife Gardening With Kids. It’s published by Roost Books; they have a free downloadable chapter pdf.  The book ships on April 23rd.  Preorder from your local bookseller. Here’s an early review in Foreword Magazine. Thanks to the CCBC there’s a fab list of children’s books to pair with your outdoor nature studies: CCBC Let’s Go Outside! List. I just returned from a terrific Young Author’s visit in Wolcott, IN and a now off to VA to visit four schools. See some of you there!

It’s almost fated to happen. Every time I go to press, I find a flood of books/websites, and the like, which I wish I’d known about so I could include them in my resource section.  Usually, when I’m writing a book, I spend time on my own text and the science and interviews underlying it. I don’t worry much about looking sideways into what other resources are in the field. I just share what gems have come my way…those go-to books that have nurtured me over the years. That, alas, probably misses some more recent ones.

In wildlife gardening, there are so many goodies!  Like this  book I came across:

Birdscaping the Midwest: a Guide to Gardening with Native Plants to Attract Birds by Mariette Nowak. Itchy Cat Press, Blue Mounds, WI, 2007. She has lots of terrific charts, plant lists for a variety of creatures. It’s a perfect complement to my book which, by design, had to be more general about recommendations because it was going nationwide. If you’re ready to dig in to midwest, check out this book.

On a tangent, Jeff and I just visited Blue Mounds briefly to take photos for the field guide he is co-authoring with Kenn Kaufman. So, now I can imagine what a beautiful habitat this little production press inhabits. A good origin, for sure!  Bravo, Ms. Nowak, for your hard work in this field! Hoping many fields of native plants result…