April 2024 week pick

Back when we were young and impressionable, the writing of Rachel Carson introduced us to topics and issues that opened up our world. At wonder | wander | world we are forever grateful for sharing her stories and insights with us.

a classic introduction to the wonders of nature

Author, biologist, conservationist, and leading pioneer of the global environmental movement - her life, legacy, and revolutionary writing have greatly impacted the world. We give homage to the literature and environmental education she shared - which still remain our treasured and eternal companion.

Rachel Louise Carson is well known for her Silent Spring book (1962) that challenged the use of chemical pesticides and launched an environmental movement. Not many knew that before she wrote about the silencing of birds she was a marine biologist and wrote a trilogy about the ocean.

In her essay and book The Sense of Wonder - when her grandnephew visits Carson for a summer at her cottage in Maine - together they wander through the surrounding woods and tide pools. 

Teaching Roger about the natural wonders around them - she relates to her readers how she too experiences them anew - sharing these same magical moments of awe with us, her audience. 

Learn more about her story and legacy. Read her writing for yourself - it is the ideal way to honor her on Earth Day this April 22.

a natural campus

wonder | wander| world in conversation — with our fellow island born, nurtured circle of friends, and former high school classmates — got to talking about our campus life back then.

registration building & Oblation statue, UP Diliman campus

A few of us went to college at the University of the Philippines, Diliman (UPD) in Quezon City. Growing up on our little lush tropical island made us appreciate the campus more — our escape from the concrete and crush of the overcrowded chaos in sprawling Metro Manila.

Academic Oval Road, UP Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines

Although we had since moved on and have not returned to the community, it was good to see this grand state campus still thriving and well tended. We were among the lucky few who got to dorm on campus — a great comfort and convenience at a simpler time in our lives.

the Threatened Species Arboretum on campus

nurture nature

As we ease our way back outside this summer, wonder | wander | world is compelled to explore outdoors from a fresh and appreciative perspective. Even fully vaccinated, we prefer to ease our way back into what we hope is a much better world. 

We were doubly inspired by the latest works on display by famed global artist, Yayoi Kusama - now on display at the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) from April 10th through October 31st, 2021. 

Yayoi Kusama, still from Flower Obsession (Sunflower), n.d. Courtesy of the artist.

Read the full article here: Yayoi Kusama’s Fascination with Nature Is Crucial to Understanding Her Art (artsy.net)

mystic eyes - the worlds of Jackie Morris

One of our favourite illustrators at wonder | wander | world is Jackie Morris, whose work we've loved ever since discovering The Snow Leopard in 2007.

It's a story of a mythical leopard who sings the world into being, illustrated with gorgeous art of the real-life snow leopard, a desperately endangered species. We were hooked!

The Ice Bear, 2011

Her art ranges from the brilliantly-observed realism of works like The Ice Bear and the White Fox, to whimsical fairytales straight from a child's imagination.

Tell Me A Dragon, 2009

In 2017 she collaborated with nature writer and poet Robert Macfarlane to produce The Lost Words, a large-format poetry book dedicated to words from the natural world which were removed from the Oxford Illustrated Children's Dictionary: acorn, dandelion, otter, and many others.

Her most recent book is a reissue of the 2015 Queen of the Sky, a real-life story about her friend rescuing and nursing an injured peregrine falcon in the Welsh countryside.

We look forward to more gorgeous stories woven by this talented craftswoman!

A poem of seasonal observances: The Chinese Solar Terms

One of our favourite books is Liza Dalby's The Tale of Murasaki, a historical novel about the life of the famous writer of the Tale of Genji. Before she becomes Murasaki Shikibu, the book imagines the character of Fuji, a quiet but fiercely intelligent poet with a keen sensitivity for seasons and nature.

The Tale of Murasaki, Penguin Random House, 2001

unplugging this Thanksgiving weekend

"The Mushroom Hunters" by Neil Gaiman - read by Amanda Palmer with music by Jherek Bischoff -  is a feminist poem about the dawn of science.

Amanda Palmer with her reading as the audience packs into Pioneer Works (Photograph by Amanda Palmer)

Making it the perfect choice here at wonder | wander | world this quiet Thanksgiving weekend.

Enjoy this sweet little gem and let it nourish our outlook and approach this coming holidays.