Maybelle, Bunny of the North
By Keith Patterson (Bees Knees Books, $15.95)
The blurb: Maybelle is our lively little tour guide to the seasons in Homer. We journey through changing weather and explore seasonal play with a precious parent-child duo who have an obvious love for the outdoors. Ever the sociable adventurer, Maybelle offers a friendly Hiya to all her friends along the way. Her adventures wind down as she eases into sleep with the help of a goodnight song and a book.
Excerpt: "In the summer I like to go for long walks.
"I have to walk past Shasta, the dog who lives next door. (She likes to bite but she is only playing.)
"I look for magpies, crows, and dogs.
"I pet the dogs.
"I walk through the fireweed and look for moose.
"I like to go to Bishops Beach and pick up rocks and sea stars."
Double Moon: Constructions & Conversations
By Margo Klass and Frank Soos (Boreal Books, $19.95)
The blurb: Culminating five years of aesthetic sparring, "Double Moon" is a spirited conversation between image and text. Klass uses found objects to create enigmatic box constructions and Soos responds with insightful mini-essays that are sometimes ironic, sometimes whimsical, sometimes piercing.
Excerpt: "How big does an idea have to be before it is really big? Gravity say? How big before it is bigger than we are? Until we become nothing but facts balled up inside? I dragged a chair over and stood on it, tried to reach those kinds of ideas, but people told me to think small, that's where the money is. Advertising jingles. Politics. Not God, but God's by-products. Prayer beads, prayer cloths, figurines for the dashboard and yard. Instead, I sat and waited. Lightning, foxfire, sunrise."
Animal Investigators
By Laurel A. Neme (Scribner, $25)
The blurb: Killing wild animals is big business. While much wildlife trade is legal, a huge black market exists. Neme reveals how forensic scientists and agents at the first and only animal forensics laboratory in Oregon are working to investigate wildlife crimes, protect endangered species, and stem illegal wildlife trafficking.
Excerpt: "In the fall of 1989, Al Crane squinted in the bright autumn sunshine. From the window of his small Cessna 185, he scanned the coastline of Alaska's remote Seward Peninsula, the westernmost point of the North American mainland. He grimaced at the scene below him -- hundreds of walrus, almost all without their heads and tusks, had washed up on shore. ...
"Unfortunately, the slaughter was nothing new. ... While Crane and Native Alaskans had tried to stop it over the past 15 years, the scene kept repeating itself -- carcass after headless carcass."