Rooted

Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit
By Lyanda Lynn Haupt
Brown and Company, 2021. 240 pages. Nonfiction

In Rooted, cutting-edge science supports a truth that poets, artists, mystics, and earth-based cultures across the world have proclaimed over life on this planet is radically interconnected. Our bodies, thoughts, minds, and spirits are affected by the whole of nature, and they affect this whole in return. In this time of crisis, how can we best live upon our imperiled, beloved earth?

Award-winning writer Lyanda Lynn Haupt’s highly personal new book is a brilliant invitation to live with the earth in both simple and profound ways—from walking barefoot in the woods and reimagining our relationship with animals and trees, to examining the very language we use to describe and think about nature. She invokes rootedness as a way of being in concert with the wilderness—and wildness—that sustains humans and all of life.

In the tradition of Rachel Carson, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Mary Oliver, Haupt writes with urgency and grace, reminding us that at the crossroads of science, nature, and spirit we find true hope. Each chapter provides tools for bringing our unique gifts to the fore and transforming our sense of belonging within the magic and wonder of the natural world.

Rooted is a mixture of nature, memoir, philosophy, and science. The advice in this book will not be new to someone who is already connected to nature and enjoys being outdoors, but the remembers are needed in our world full of screens. I expected a bit more references to scientific studies, but overall her points are heartfelt and poignant. This book would appeal to those who like the works by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Sharon Blackie.

If you like Rooted you might also like:

The Enchanted Life: Unlocking the Magic of the Everyday
By Sharon Blackie
Ambrosia, 2018. 356 pages. Nonfiction

Taking as her starting point the inspiration and wisdom that can be derived from myth, fairy tales, and folk culture, Dr. Sharon Blackie offers a set of practical and grounded tools for enchanting our lives and the places we live, so leading to a greater sense of meaning and of belonging to the world. Enchantment: by Dr. Blackie’s definition, a vivid sense of belongingness to a rich and many-layered world, a profound and whole-hearted participation in the adventure of life. Enchantment is a natural, spontaneous human tendency―one we possess as children, but lose, through social and cultural pressures, as we grow older. It is an attitude of mind which can be the enchanted life is possible for anyone. It is intuitive, embraces wonder, and fully engages the mythic imagination―but it is also deeply embodied in ecology, grounded in place and community. To live this way is to be challenged, to be awakened, to be gripped and shaken to the core by the extraordinary which lies at the heart of the ordinary.

Braiding Sweetgrass

By Robin Wall Kimmerer

Milkweed Editions, 2013. 391 pages. Nonfiction

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these lenses of knowledge together to show that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return.

JJC

Invisible Son

Invisible Son 

By Kim Johnson 

Random House, 2023. 404 pages. Young Adult 

After spending two months at the start of 2022 in a juvenile detention center for a crime he did not commit, 17-year-old Andre Jackson returns home to Portland, Oregon and tries to adapt to a world that is changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and finds that his best friend is missing. After talking with his friends and the adults in his life, Andre realizes that things aren’t adding up and that there’s more going on with his friend’s disappearance than anyone seems to realize. 

This is the first book I’ve picked up that really focused on the first half of 2020 and all that entails. This felt very raw and honest, and I really appreciated that. It was very thought-provoking, and I’m glad I could read about someone’s experience (even though it was fictional) that was so different from my own. Because of the emotional intensity and focus on recent events, this is definitely something I would recommend being mentally prepared for before reading. Invisible Son is excellent and I’m glad I read it, but I don’t know if I’m ready to regularly read pandemic fiction yet. 

If you liked Invisible Son, you might also like: 

Promise Boys  

By Nick Brooks 

Henry Holt and Company, 2023. 294 pages. Young Adult 

J.B., Ramón, and Trey, students of the Urban Promise Prep School, must follow the school's strict rules, but when their principal is murdered, the three boys must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. 

The Hate U Give  

By Angie Thomas 

Balzer + Bray, 2017. 444 pages. Young Adult 

After witnessing her friend's death at the hands of a police officer, Starr Carter's life is complicated when the police and a local drug lord try to intimidate her in an effort to learn what happened the night Kahlil died. 

ACS

The Buried and the Bound

The Buried and the Bound

By Rochelle Hassan  

Roaring Brook Press, 2023. 375 pages. Young Adult Fantasy 

As the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts--an uncommonly magical place--Aziza El-Amin has bargained with wood nymphs, rescued palm-sized fairies from house cats, banished flesh-eating shadows from the local park. But when a dark entity awakens in the forest outside of town, eroding the invisible boundary between the human world and fairyland, run-of-the-mill fae mischief turns into outright aggression, and the danger--to herself and others--becomes too great for her to handle alone. Leo Merritt is no stranger to magical catastrophes. On his sixteenth birthday, a dormant curse kicked in and ripped away all his memories of his true love. A miserable year has passed since then. He doesn't even know his true love's name, but he feels the absence in his life, and it's haunting. Desperate for answers, he makes a pact with Aziza: he'll provide much-needed backup on her nightly patrols, and in exchange, she'll help him break the curse. When the creature in the woods sets its sights on them, their survival depends on the aid of a mysterious young necromancer they're not certain they can trust. But they'll have to work together to eradicate the new threat and take back their hometown... even if it forces them to uncover deeply buried secrets and make devastating sacrifices.  

This urban fantasy with dark academia vibes has my whole heart. The characters are young and flawed but it is so amazing to see them develop throughout the story. I wasn’t even halfway through before I decided I loved all three and would die for any of them. The writing is a perfect blend of whimsy and suspense, and I found myself underlining favorite lines every other page. If you're looking for a spooky fall read with multiple perspectives and a diverse cast, I would definitely check this one out.

 

If you like The Buried and the Bound, you might also like: 

 

Shades of Rust and Ruin

By A.G. Howard            

Bloomsbury, 2022. 391 pages. Young Adult Fantasy        

Phoenix "Nix" Loring knows her family is under a Halloween curse. When she was three, her parents tragically died on October 31st. Eleven years later, her twin sister Lark suffered a similar fate. Ever since, Nix has battled survivor guilt. She can't even find comfort in Clarey, Lark's boyfriend and the one person who understands her pain, because Nix's hidden feelings for him go far beyond friendship. All that remains are her sketches, where she finds solace among the goblins and faeries in her imaginary world of Mystiquel. When her depression starts affecting her ability to see color, Nix all but gives up on her art, until her uncle goes missing on Halloween day. Hot on his trail, Nix and Clarey step through a portal, becoming trapped inside a decaying version of their town filled with Nix's own sketches come to life. As Nix and Clarey search for her uncle within the sinister and dangerous world of Mystiquel, Nix discovers there's more to her family curse and otherworldly artwork than she ever imagined-and unless she can solve the Goblin King's maze before the clock strikes midnight, her life won't be the only one the curse claims next. 

The Raven Boys

By Maggie Stiefvater  

Scholastic Press, 2012. 390 pages. Young Adult Urban Fantasy 

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her. His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore. 

*This is one of my all-time favorite series, and the overall vibe is very close to The Buried and the Bound.*

Not Good for Maidens

By Tori Bovalino         

Recorded Books, Inc, 2022. 350 pages. Young Adult Fantasy 

   

Beneath the streets of York, the goblin market calls to the Wickett women—the family of witches that tends to its victims. For generations, they have defended the old cobblestone streets with their magic. Knowing the dangers, they never entered the market—until May Wickett fell for a goblin girl, accepted her invitation, and became inextricably tied to the world her family tried to protect her from. The market learned her name, and even when she and her sister left York for Boston to escape it, the goblins remembered. Eighteen years later, Lou, May's niece, knows nothing of her magical lineage or the twisted streets, sweet fruits, and incredible jewels of the goblin market. But just like her aunt, the market calls to her, an echo of a curse that won't release its hold on her family. And when her youngest aunt, Neela, is kidnapped by goblins, Lou discovers just how real and dangerous the market is. To save her, both May and Lou will have to confront their family's past and what happened all those years ago. But everything—from the food and the wares to the goblins themselves—is a haunting temptation for any human who manages to find their way in. And if Lou isn't careful, she could end up losing herself to the market too. 

KJ