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Title details for How to Be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery - Available

How to Be a Good Creature

A Memoir in Thirteen Animals

by Sy Montgomery
Sy Montgomery
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available
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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 25, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781684414130
      • File size: 106595 KB
      • Duration: 03:42:04

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 1000
    • Text Difficulty: 5-7

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Naturalist and bestselling author Sy Montgomery narrates her memoir on animals that have shaped her life and her understanding of the world. She taps the full range of experience: Her stories are engaging and touching, humorous and terribly sad. Montgomery's narration captures her deep sense of wonder and affection for the creatures she studies--from Octavia the octopus to a pinktoe tarantula. Listeners will also hear her soul-crushing heartache at losing beloved pets, including her good pig, Christopher Hogwood, and her beloved dog, Tess. Listeners will come to share Montgomery's belief that animals have much to teach us about humor, perspective, empathy, forgiveness, despair, and gratitude. Every word of this production captures Montgomery's reverence for the world we share with other creatures. J.C.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 11, 2018
      Naturalist Montgomery (The Soul of an Octopus) rekindles her dormant childhood desire to talk with animals in a narrative that shimmers with grace and wonder. Ten tales poignantly personify 13 critters both commonplace and exotic, from Tess the border collie and Chris the extroverted pig to spiders and octopuses. “Many young girls worship their older sisters.... was a dog, and I... wanted to be just like her: Fierce. Feral. Unstoppable,” Montgomery writes of Molly, her family’s Scottish terrier. Other animals she writes about live farther from home, and Montgomery tells of quitting a newspaper job to shadow emus in the Australian Outback and befriending a tarantula in the jungles of South America. In the cloud forest of Papua, New Guinea, she rediscovers “the wildness that keeps us sane and whole, the wild, delicious hunger for life.” Back on her New Hampshire farm, an ermine plundering the henhouse on Christmas offers a unexpected perspective on her difficult mother and a vivid dream of a deceased pet opens her heart to a new dog in need of rescue. Montgomery’s lyrical storytelling and resonant lessons on how animals can enhance our humanity result in a tender, intelligent literary memoir. Illus.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1000
  • Text Difficulty:5-7

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