Howard Frank Mosher

Years ago, long before I even knew of the existence of a place called the Northeast Kingdom, my book group introduced a short novel called Northern Borders by Howard Frank Mosher. I fell in love with it. Little did I know that Mosher's piece of heaven would become mine. I have recommended this book to many friends over the years, but it was just recently that my brother Geoff reminded me of the book again. He found it on our shelf in Vermont on a recent visit and I told him, "take it... you'll love it". We talked the other day and he said "by the way that book was great", so great in fact, his daughter is now reading it and he has moved onto another one of Mosher's books....and there are plenty to choose from. Last count, I believe he was up to ten books written. Many of his books are set in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont with the most strikingly unique set of characters you could possible image. In Northern Borders, Mosher's storytelling about the life of a small boy sent to live with his grandparents in the wilds of Northern Vermont are so incredibly fascinating and twisted you can't help but to hope that they are actually based in some truth from Mosher's own experience. Each chapter reads like a short story as a collaboration to recount one grand tale.

You will not be disappointed by Northern Borders or any of Mosher's books for that matter.

Four Wings and a Prayer

Caught in the Mystery of the Monarch Butterfly

By: Sue Halpern

Sue Halpern is brilliant when it comes to choosing a title for a book and equally talented in the writing of a unique memoir and travel adventure. For anyone who has ever been moved by the sight of the well know orange and black butterfly, Daaus plexippus, usually referred to as the Monarch, Four Wings and a Prayer is a must for your library.

Part memoir, part travel adventure, Sue Halpern takes you on a journey into the wild world of mystery surrounding the Monarch. It is her pursuit for better understanding of the power that this small creature holds on both scientists and amateurs (like myself) alike, that makes Four Wings and a Prayer such a fascinating read.

Just days after promising her mother that she would not drive through Mexico at night, Halpern finds herself spending a week in a car, in Mexico, driving at night, with a total stranger. But this was no ordinary stranger. Bill Calvert is really more of a "legend" according to Halpern. It is Bill Calvert who twenty seven years earlier, had made one of the greatest discoveries in modern science; the winter roosting sites of the Monarch butterfly. He is one of the many intriguing scientists and passionate individuals that cross back and forth through the pages in Halpern's journalistic account of the life of the Monarch.


Whether Halpern is humping through Mexico's Transverse Neovolcanic Mountains trying to catch a glimpse of the monarchs winter roosting site or driving fifteen miles per hour along Hawaiian roadways in hopes of spotting a white monarch, a rare genetic variant, she reveals eloquently her own passion for her literary muse in this captivating book centerd around the mystery of the Monarch butterfly.

Medelise