The Northeastern Readers' Advisory Round Table studies NONFICTION: NATURE WRITING: FLORA & FAUNA.

(Note: All NE M RA RT discussions will be Virtual Zoom meetings sponsored by a member library. Members will recieve a link to sign-up via our Google Group, anyone else who is interested should email Leane at rapotential@gmail.com)

We are studying NONFICTION for the rest of 2022. This month we are delving into Science: Nature Writing: Flora & Fauna. In September 2022, we dived into Popular Science Writing.

Assignment: For the benchmark, everyone reads three (3) essays: Katy Kelleher’s “Periwinkle, the Color of Poison, Modernism, and Dusk” (p.230-236) from The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2021, ed. by Ed Yong (2021); Robin Wall Kimmerer’s “The Three Sisters” (p124-136) from Braiding Sweetgrass (2013/2020) [Leane will provide both PDFs.]  AND Sy Montgomery’s The Hummingbird’s Gift: Wonder, Beauty, and Renewal on Wings (2021) [book format 79p].  

Please also read a Choice title in this category either from the suggested lists below on our blog, or one that you choose yourself; and then post a review on our blog under Submit Choice Titles. This is a very broad topic and accessible Popular Science is an emphasis on the CHOICE list. 

For appeal, please focus especially on Narrative Style, Pace, and Author’s Intent.

See NE RA RT BLOG for more information and list of Resources.

Meeting every other month, the NE RA RT reads from one genre--and then discusses the appeal of that genre with each other emphasizing the building of a skill set of appeal categories and familiarity of genre particulars. They cover a different genre every meeting, allowing each of the participants to be introduced to the discipline of reading for appeal, as well as an initiation to broad genre categories. Everyone participating will be able to share analysis of titles and authors in unfamiliar genres that will stretch their capacity as readers' advisors.  The discussion leader is Leane Ellis (rapotential@gmail.com).