June 19, 2024 in Library News

National Great Outdoors Month in June reminds us to explore our nation's abundant wildlife refuges, parks, and natural beauty. Here are some Library staff recommended reads and watches to celebrate The Great Outdoors!

The Great Alone (2018)

by Kristin Hannah

Young girl Leni Allbright is looking for a glimmer of hope in her family’s situation. Her parents' relationship may be compared to a thunderstorm when they’re both on and off, and her father fights PTSD from the Vietnam War. They are given land in Alaska as a gift where they move and fight to make a new life in this town in the middle of nowhere. The locals are sweet, the scenery is beautiful, and everything seems to be going their way…until Winter arrives, when their family begins to crumble. This historical fiction is a third person narration following Leni as she grows into a teenager and adulthood while living in Alaska with her parents. Trigger Warnings of PTSD and Domestic Abuse.
- Vana, AV

The American Buffalo (2023)

by Florentine Films

A PBS Ken Burns film featuring a journey through more than 10,000 years of North American history and across some of the continent's most iconic landscapes, tracing the mammal's evolution.
- Carol, AV

The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring (2002)

by New Line Cinema Corporation

The adventure across Middle Earth allows this movie to show the audience a variety of natural environments, ranging from hills and plains to forests and mountains. The world has character and history, shown by how the characters interact with their surroundings as they travel.
- Jenalyn, AV

Planet Earth, The Complete Series (2007)

by British Broadcasting Corporation

Award-winning documentary of wildlife found on various habitats of Earth. The camera work is fantastic, and many of the wildlife has rarely been captured on film.
- Carol, AV

Walden : Or, Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1986)

by Henry David Thoreau

For the non-fiction lovers, Walden is a classic by the well-known transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, that documents his essays while he decides to live alone at the Walden Pond for 2 years reflecting on his life and the lives of others in the city, the nature that surrounds him, and all the philosophical thoughts of Thoreau. I had to read excerpts of this book for class last year and I fell in love with his writing and learned so much that I had to come to the library and pick this up and read the whole thing!
- Vana, AV

World of Wonders : in Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (2020)

by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Nezhukumatathil weaves her observations of nature into memories and reminders. Her writing is fluid, and each story will leave you with a small smile. The illustrations only enhance the experience. This book was full of facts and mindful moments. I couldn't help relating some tidbits on fireflies to my husband the first night I started reading it as we sat on our back porch lamenting at how few are around these days.
- Lauren, Hanover Park

A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (1998)

by Bill Bryson

Humorous, informative, and insightful, this book depicts the author's hike on the Appalachian Trail. Described by reviewers as "a modern classic of travel literature," it is especially interesting if you or someone you know has hiked the Appalachian Trail.
- Allison, Hoffman Estates Branch

Where the Crawdads Sing (2018)

by Delia Owens

This consistently popular fiction book features a well-written story set on the North Carolina coast. The descriptions of nature are beautiful and vivid.
- Allison, Hoffman Estates Branch

The Garden Maker's Book of Wonder (2023)

by Allison Vallin Kostovick

It's a great read for first time gardeners.
- Meghana, Hoffman Estates

Jeremiah Johnson (2007)

by Warner Bros. Pictures

Robert Redford stars as the mountain man, Jeremiah Johnson, who leaves mid 1800's society to live in the mountains. While learning to live in the wild, he becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by the Crow tribe and proves to be a match for their warriors in single combat on the early frontier. A compelling story with impressive mountain scenery.
- Janet, AV

Jumanji, Welcome to the Jungle (2018)

by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Enjoy this delightful, fun-filled film, starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart & cast, where four teenagers are sucked into a magical video game! The only way they can escape is to work together to finish the game, while traveling through various jungle terrain and obstacles. Hilarious & action packed! I love the repartee and how they all work together to succeed!
- Janet, AV

Cast Away (2001)

by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

A fabulous film starring Tom Hanks as a FedEx executive who undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island. I found this film engaging due to Hanks' performance and his outdoor survival.
- Janet, AV

Better Living Through Birding : Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World (2023)

by Christian Cooper

The Central Park birder at the center of a racially charged viral video reflects on his lifetime journey towards self-acceptance while offering insights into the wonderful world of birds and what they can teach us about life. Informative and timely.
- Jennifer, Fiction

The Garden of Small Beginnings (2017)

by Abbi Waxman

A quirky, funny, and deeply thoughtful book” that’s “filled with characters you’ll love and wish you lived next door to in real life” from the author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. There are also many abstracts and illustrated instructions for vegetable gardening inside
- Jennifer, Fiction

The Memory of Lavender and Sage (2024)

by Aimie K Runyan

Using her inheritance to buy a ramshackle manor house in Sainte-Colombe, a small village in Provence where her late mother had grown up, food critic Tempèsta Luddington learns through friendship, community and her mother's legacy to see the magic and beauty in the everyday.
- Jennifer, Fiction

Migrations (2020)

by Charlotte McConaghy

A woman who has dedicated her life to protecting the environment convinces a fishing captain and his salty crew to follow the world's last flock of Arctic terns on a migration of dark revelations. Epic and intimate, heartbreaking and galvanizing, Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations is an ode to a disappearing world, especially that of Greenland and Antartica.
- Jennifer, Fiction

Wild : from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (2013)

by Cheryl Strayed

Great story of perseverance, setbacks and endurance on PCT hiking trail.
- Claudia, Hanover Park

This Wretched Valley (2024)

by Jenny Kiefer

Four climbers hike into the Kentucky wilderness to climb a newly discovered cliff face. But things start going wrong as soon as their expedition begins, suggesting something sinister may be present in the valley with them. Hair-raising and unsettling, fans of historical and/or wilderness horror will love this.
- Emily, Fiction

Yellowjackets, Season One (2022)

by Showtime Networks

A wildly talented high school girl soccer team becomes the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the Canadian wilderness. Compulsively watchable, think Lord of the Flies meets Lost plus My So-Called Life.
- Emily, Fiction

The Death and Life of the Great Lakes (2017)

by Dan Egan

Reads like a mystery, is of local interest and addresses the effects of climate change.
- Julie, Admin

Kakapo Rescue : Saving the World's Strangest Parrot (2010)

by Sy Montgomery

This book shares the fascinating and not-well-known history and study of the kakapo parrot, a bird that inhabits New Zealand. With only 91 of these birds left on Earth (as of this book's publication), the New Zealand National Kakapo Recovery Team is working hard to restore this strange bird's population and save them from extinction.
- Abbey, Teen

The Barren Grounds (2020)

by David Robertson

In this Indigenous junior high fantasy series opener, readers travel to the beautiful frozen landscape of Askí where the two human main characters met a dynamic crew of animal characters working to survive the harsh-turning landscape. The team fights to try and save the community of Misewa before winter sets in forever and freezes everything...including them.
- Abbey, Teen

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