A Literary Field Guide to Southern Appalachia edited by Rose McLarney and Laura-Gray Street. L. L. Gaddy, Natural History Editor

This is one of the most desirable gift books to come out of our region in the 40+ years I’ve been dealing in the literature of the Southern Appalachians. It combines poetry, drawings, and science in a way that will keep those who own this book returning to it time and again and being uplifted each time. A Literary Guide to Southern Appalachia illuminants the natural history of our region, species by species, in seven categories: Trees and Plants, Mammals, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians, Fish, Invertebrates, and Fungi. For each category, two to fifteen species are chosen, and each species is illuminated with a poem by a writer with a connection to the region, a drawing by one of the artists with regional experience, and a brief essay by L. L. Gaddy that provides both a Description and Notes as well as the Habitat and Range for each of sixty species. The poets chosen range from the nationally known, including Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Ron Rash and Robert Morgan to some whose first book