“Still Here, Still Now” delivers a body of work ranging in style from lyric to narrative, in theme from biblical to contemporary and scientific, in tone from humorous to elegiac.
Pack celebrates family ties, seeks consolation for the passing of time, wonders about the meaning of happiness and the reason for suffering. In the end, though, it is his return to the landscape - and its influence on individual lives - that defines and elevates Pack’s work.
Already, his new volume is playing to appreciative audiences, including this from Paul Hunter, editor of “The Norton Introduction to Poetry.”
Wrote Hunter: “I can’t think of anyone else now writing who is so at home with traditional metrics and who controls them so easily and unobtrusively to sound so thoroughly himself. Pack’s poetic powers are at their peak. 'Still Here, Still Now’ will appeal to new readers as well as to his faithful followers.”
Who can keep count?
Missoula author Dorothy Hinshaw Patent has more than 100 books to her credit.
But numbers aren’t the proper measuring stick for Patent’s work. She’s simply unsurpassed at producing top-flight nonfiction for young readers, the latest of which looks at the successful recovery of wolves in Yellowstone National Park.
“When the Wolves Returned” examines an ecosystem that is gradually restoring itself to a more natural balance because of the reintroduction of a dominant predator, the Rocky Mountain gray wolf.
No longer are coyotes the Yellowstone ecosystem’s top predator. In fact, coyotes are now prey.
Elk are now more mobile, spreading their range - and vegetative disturbance - over larger areas. In turn, aspens, cottonwoods and willows are growing healthier, which aids the cause of beavers. And so it goes until every link in the food chain is affected.
Dan Hartman and Cassie Hartman, a father-daughter team, provided many of the photographs for the book, and they are exquisite shots of Yellowstone’s wolves. And grizzlies. And elk and coyotes and bison and pronghorns.
“When Wolves Returned” is a beauty: well-written, grandly photographed, impeccably researched, with an important message to convey to young readers - and, we hope, to their families.
Alex is a sea turtle with a big heart - and with much to teach young readers about the nature and behavior of his species in its natural habitat.
His story, as told by Missoula author Chris Dawson, is one of love, forgiveness and the healing that comes from acts of great compassion.
It is, Dawson said, “a child’s view into a heart of compassion.”
Intended for children in grades K-5, “Alex the Sea Turtle” is available at bookstores around Missoula and through Dawson’s Shiloh Group - P.O. Box 4274, Missoula, MT 59806; online at www.shilohgroup.net.
And Dawson is just getting started: Yet to come are “Franklin the Penguin,” “Ben the Beaver,” “Shadow the Horse” and “Rudolph the Fox.”
Reach editor Sherry Devlin at (406) 523-5250 or by e-mail at sdevlin@missoulian.com.
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