Celebrate the release of Expedition Backyard with author Rosemary Mosco and artist Binglin Hu, in partnership with the Emerald Necklace Conservancy.

Copies of Expedition Backyard purchased on the registration page will be signed and personalized by Rosemary Mosco.

Expedition Backyard: Exploring Nature from Country to City

Join two best friends—a mole and vole—on their everyday expeditions to find beautiful plants, meet new animals, and learn more about the world all around them in this nonfiction graphic novel.

Each day, Mole and Vole venture out into the world – never forgetting their nature journal! – to see what they can find in their own backyard. From pigeons and jumping spiders to swamp milkweed and maple trees, these two explorers get to know every part of their local environment. But after an accidental move from the country to the city, Mole and Vole worry that everything will be different. As they explore, they discover plants to look at and animals to meet in their new home as well.

The story of these two best friends brings to life a nonfiction adventure of finding wonder in nature everywhere – no matter where you live.

Rosemary Mosco makes books that connect people with the natural world. She co-wrote The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide, a New York Times Best Seller. She speaks at bird watching festivals and writes for Audubon and the PBS kids’ show Elinor Wonders Why. She tweets @rosemarymosco.

Binglin Hu is a cartoonist, illustrator, and designer. Their work pulls inspiration from wildlife, fashion, mythology, and their lived experiences as a queer second-generation Chinese-American immigrant. Binglin’s day job is graphic design at the National Aquarium. They tweet at @binglinhu.

The post Rosemary Mosco & Binglin Hu: Expedition Backyard! appeared first on Literary Massachusetts.

Whether you identify as a city kid or an avid naturalist, fascinating birds can be found everywhere! In this session, we’ll hear from Rosemary Mosco, who’s been connecting people to the natural world with her funny (but scientifically accurate!) cartoons for years. In A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching she demystifies these ubiquitous but often misunderstood birds. Ornithologist Stephen W. Kress and photographer Derrick Z. Jackson team up for The Puffin Plan, a beautifully photographed account of reintroducing these gorgeous birds to rocky islands off the coast of Maine. We’ll hear from all these creators and get their ideas for incorporating the natural world into young people’s lives in this session hosted by Jeremy Spool of the Massachusetts Young Birders Club.

Donations made during registration or during the session will go to support the Boston Book Festival’s Shelf Help Partnership, providing brand-new books and an author/illustrator visit to Boston-area public schools. This year’s recipient schools are Josiah Quincy Elementary School in Chinatown and Chelsea High School in Chelsea. Thank you for your support!

The post Boston Book Festival: YA: This Session’s for the Birds appeared first on Literary Massachusetts.

Fact: Pigeons are amazing, and until recently, humans adored them. We’ve kept them as pets, held pigeon beauty contests, raced them, used them to carry messages over battlefields, harvested their poop to fertilize our crops–and cooked them in gourmet dishes. Now, with The Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching, readers can rediscover the wonder. Equal parts illustrated field guide and quirky history, it covers behavior: Why they coo; how they flock; how they preen, kiss, and mate (monogamously); and how they raise their young (on chunky pigeon milk). Anatomy and identification, from Birmingham Roller to the American Giant Runt to the Scandaroon. Birder issues, like what to do if you find a baby pigeon stranded in the park. And our lively shared story together, including all the things we’ve taught them–Ping-Pong, for example. “Rats with wings?” Think again.

Pigeons coo, peck and nest all over the world, yet most of us treat them with indifference or disdain. So Rosemary Mosco, a bird-lover, science communicator, writer, and cartoonist (and co-author of The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid) is here to give the pigeon’s image a makeover, and to help every town- and city-dweller get closer to nature by discovering the joys of birding through pigeon-watching.

Rosemary Mosco is a science communicator, acclaimed cartoonist, and speaker on all things bird. She’s the creator of the webcomic Bird and Moon and has authored many science books for young people, including co-authoring the bestselling Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid. She lives in Massachusetts.

Joan Walsh has been an ornithologist and ecologist since 1979, and is the Bertrand Chair of Ornithology and Natural History for Mass Audubon. She has worked with Common and Roseate Terns in New York, Wood Storks in east-central Georgia, and  seabirds and Elephant Seals on the Farallon Islands off California. Her interests involve large-scale and long-term monitoring of threatened populations, and innovative recovery programs for wildlife. Currently she is working on projects involving offshore wind in New England, Roseate Tern wintering grounds in Brazil, and a long-term forestry project in Belize. Joan loves to travel, and while she hasn’t been everywhere, it is on her list.

The post Porter Square Books Presents: Rosemary Mosco with Joan Walsh, A Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching appeared first on Literary Massachusetts.