Sy Montgomery is a naturalist who has been writing about animals and nature for adults and children for more than 30 years. She published a memoir in 2018, How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals, and the Iron Book Group will read and discuss it in April 2025.
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BOOK DESCRIPTION: Sy Montgomery reflects on the personalities and quirks of 13 animals—her friends—who have profoundly affected her in this stunning, poetic, and life-affirming memoir featuring illustrations by Rebecca Green.
Understanding someone who belongs to another species can be transformative. No one knows this better than author, naturalist, and adventurer Sy Montgomery. To research her books, Sy has traveled the world and encountered some of the planet’s rarest and most beautiful animals. From tarantulas to tigers, Sy’s life continually intersects with and is informed by the creatures she meets.
This restorative memoir reflects on the personalities and quirks of thirteen animals—Sy’s friends—and the truths revealed by their grace. It also explores vast themes: the otherness and sameness of people and animals; the various ways we learn to love and become empathetic; how we find our passion; how we create our families; coping with loss and despair; gratitude; forgiveness; and most of all, how to be a good creature in the world.
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Copies of How to be a Good Creature can be picked up from the Book Discussion Shelf on our first floor, and it’s available digitally as an ebook through Overdrive/Libby or Hoopla.
An in-person discussion of How to be a Good Creature will be held at the library on Tuesday, April 8, at 7:00 PM. No registration is required, so please join us if you’d like to be part of the discussion.
Published on March 27, 2025.
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