[Katniss]

1. "Looking for the Gulf Motel" by Richard Blanco

A poetry book (he was the poet chosen by Pres. Obama for the inaguration) that is a collection of three movements taking the reader from childhood to adulthood.

"As a child born into the milieu of his Cuban exiled familia, the first movement delves into early questions of cultural identity and their evolution into his unrelenting sense of displacement and quest for the elusive meaning of home. The second, begins with poems peering back into family again, examining the blurred lines of gender, the frailty of his father-son relationship, and the intersection of his cultural and sexual identities as a Cuban-American gay man living in rural Maine. In the last movement, poems focused on his mother’s life shaped by exile, his father’s death, and the passing of a generation of relatives, all provide lessons about his own impermanence in the world and the permanence of loss."


2. "Life Traces of the Georgia Coast" by Anthony Martin


"This is a book about ichnology (the study of such traces), a wonderful way to learn about the behavior of organisms, living and long extinct. Life Traces presents an overview of the traces left by modern animals and plants in this biologically rich region; shows how life traces relate to the environments, natural history, and behaviors of their tracemakers; and applies that knowledge toward a better understanding of the fossilized traces that ancient life left in the geologic record. "


and with the kiddo at bedtime;

3. "Follow My leader" by James Garfield

I recall reading this as a child and enjoying the book. The story follows a young boy who is blinded by a fireworks accident. He has to re-learn all the things he used to know but without the advantage of sight. He is finally given the chance to have a guide dog which is where the learning (and adventure) really begins.


Katniss~~