George Henry Borrow, b.1803. He worked for the British and Foreign Bible Society in Russia, France, and Spain, lived among the Gypsies for a time, went on walking tour of those countrie in which he resided, and settled at age thirty-seven in England and wrote books. He continued to go on “long walking tours in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Cornwall and the Isle of Man.”

I’m interested in walking tours. Why do British authors (C.S. Lewis, for one) always go on walking tours, but I never read about Americans going on walking tours? Are Americans in too much of a hurry to go for month long walks? Or is the United States just too big?

Jean Craighead George, b. 1919. We wrote about Mrs. George’s Newbery honor book, My Side of the Mountain, here. I’ve also read and enjoyed her Newbery Award book, Julie of the Wolves. I think we’ll read the latter book in our homeschool this fall as we study the Arctic and the Antarctic to begin our world geography study for the year.

I have two other books by Jean Craighead George that I picked up at library book sales. Since books about nature are about as close as I get to nature study, I couldn’t with clear conscience participate in Dawn’s Carnival of Nature Study. (I know that I ought to get outdoors more, but that’s a post for another day. My neighbor calls herself a slug, but kindly refrains from calling me the same —although I’m sure she was thinking of me when she made up the name.)

One Day in the Alpine Tundra tells the story of a day in nature in the Teton Mountains of Wyoming. I think of tundra as arctic tundra (think Alaska), but the book says, “alpine tundra in the United States lies atop the tallest mountains, under the clouds, or in the radiant sun. It is on the summits of the Sierra Nevada and SOuthern Cascade Mountains in California; on the Olympic Mountains and Northern Cascades of Washington; on the tops of the Rockies in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado; on the peaks of the Great Basin Ranges in Nevada, Utah, Oregon, and California.” The day in question is August 16th, and we read about a hibernating marmot, ptarmigans, elk, a hunting goshawk, a mother pika, weasels, and shrews —and a huge slab of rock that “had been cracking in the heat and cold for centuries . . and was poised to fall.” The story has plenty of dramatic tension, even if it doesn’t have any people in it. There are two other books in this series, One Day in the Tropical Forest and One Day in the Woods. The three books would be about right for second through fifth graders.

All Upon a Stone is closer to picture book science. A fuzzy mole cricket goes looking for another creature with “furry backs, shovels, and knees just like his own.” He goes on a journey of exploration all upon a stone, meets other mole crickets and mingles with them “not to mate, not to eat, but for reasons no one knows.” Then he goes home. This book is a gentler and shorter story for preschool through first grade.

After reading either book, go outside and turn over a rock or two. I think Mrs. George would be pleased to inspire such an outdoor adventure.

Also celebrating birthdays today:
Thomas Cranmer, author and compiler of The Book of Common Prayer, b.1489.
Herman Hesse, b. 1877.
Vicente Fox, el presidente de Mexico, b.1942.
Jack Gantos, author, b.1951.