An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
Benjamin Franklin
Nature Awareness
Flower Fables
While visiting Louisa May Alcott's home "Orchard House" in Concord, Massachusetts, I found this charming book filled with stories of the lives of flower fairies. It was her first published book, written when she was only nineteen years old. Her family was friendly with Henry David Thoreau, and he often took Miss Alcott and her sisters (the same sisters on which the characters in Little Women were based) on long walks in the Walden Pond woods, during which he told them fairy stories. The stories in this book were inspired by those Miss Alcott heard from Mr. Thoreau, told with a young woman's softness and wonder. These stories contain some incredibly wonderful descriptions of nature, from the viewpoint of the nature spirits and fairies. My husband and I love to read these aloud together as bedtime stories.
Keeping a Nature Journal
This beautiful book offers many ways to observe nature around you and record what you see. Every page contains full color sketches and notes as the authors illustrate different viewpoints from which you can make your observations. Even if you don't keep a journal, you can get lots of ideas on ways to observe nature as you take a daily walk or go on a hike. Now that I've found this book, I'm going to use these observation techniques right in my own backyard.
