This year we’re going to have a wild books collective. We’ll gather every final Thursday of the month from 5:30-6:30pm at the fireplace (until it is warm enough to start having outdoor firepits and s’mores).

Readings are for both adults and another set for 3rd-6th grade (pre-teen readers). Then there will be a showcased picture book here in the Nature Center as well for our little friends who come and visit the animals during the day. The books for all ages follow a common theme. So for February the theme is surviving in the wild cold (inspired by the cyclone bomb). For adults this is the fairy-re-telling of Eowyn Ivy’s The Snow Child and Hannah Moderow’s Lilys Mountain. Both of these books are quick-paced reads that weave in survival in the cold to a broader story. They’re perfect to read with a hot chocolate in your hand under a heavy blanket.

March’s theme is Wolves. In Wolfe Nation “Brenda Peterson tells the 300-year history of wild wolves in America. It is also our own history, seen through our relationship with wolves. The earliest Americans revered them. Settlers zealously exterminated them. Now, scientists, writers, and ordinary citizens are fighting to bring them back to the wild. Peterson, an eloquent voice in the battle for twenty years, makes the powerful case that without wolves, not only will our whole ecology unravel, but we’ll lose much of our national soul. (From Amazon.com)” Lauren Wolk’s Wolf Hollow has more to do with bullying than the wild animal of Yellowstone. It was one of the most celebrated chapter books of 2017 for pre-teens.

April’s theme is trees, May is magic unseen (in nature), June is sea life…If you would like a full listing of our books come grab a print-off at the Nature Center or drop me an email at Naturalist@BroadlandsHOA.com.

And I’ll see you the final Thursday of each month at 5:30 with some hot chocolate by the fireplace. This event is open to all members of the community and free of charge.