In wrapping up our wonderful month of PAGE THROUGH THE PARKS, I wanted to take a few moments to celebrate my co-campers, Janet Fox and Barb Rosenstock — both acclaimed authors, and true lovers of books and parks!
Enjoy these little snippets of their experiences in the parks and on the page!
Me: What’s the biggest adventure or most exciting thing you’ve ever seen or done in a Natl Park?
Janet: I can’t pick just one so I choose two! One: my son and I used to go into Yellowstone every summer for a few days, and one year we became official “geyser gazers”, following the geyser eruptions around the Upper Geyser Basin (where Old Faithful is), using walkie-talkies with other gazers and running from one eruption to the next. It was huge fun. Two: on the other end of the scale was a trip I took with my son in Mesa Verde, where we took a guided sunset tour into the largest of the archeological sites. We sat in silence for a long time, all of us humbled and awed by the mystical beauty of the place and the ghosts of the vanished people who built it.
Barb: Well, honestly I first held a boy’s hand in Mammoth Cave, does that count? If you mean MORE exciting than that, I think every minute of my time spent in Yosemite was exciting, the waterfalls, the wildlife, the stars at night. All of it. Wait, I’ll qualify that, the most exciting thing in Yosemite is that they HAVE a library and that it’s full of history and fabulousness! A library in a National Park! That’s the kind of thing that makes me proud to be an American.
Me: What’s the biggest adventure or most exciting thing you’ve ever experienced as a writer?
Janet: When my book FAITHFUL came out, it was so exciting for me to be able to go back to the Park, where I’d spent so much time, and stand before Old Faithful with a copy of my debut novel, and then sign copies in the shop next door. That was such a thrill!
Janet and her book in Yellowstone!
Barb: Every day is an adventure when you’re a writer! I get to learn what interests me, meet fascinating people and go wherever my imagination leads.
Me: What’s the book that felt like the biggest adventure to you when you read it — as a child or adult!?
Janet: When I was a teen I loved books about horses, and when I read MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE I wanted a horse so badly! It seemed like a true adventure to live with wild horses, and to become attached to one. As an adult, my dream of owning a horse finally came true.
Barb: My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. I loved it. I still love it. And White Fang by Jack London, I loved that too. And the whole Harry Potter series. And I loved Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet…I’m kind of bad at picking my favorites…
Me: What is your 100th Birthday Wish for our National Parks?
Barb: That they have a 200th anniversary and a 300th, 400th and a 500th…you get the picture.
Barb and her sister in Yosemite!
Janet: May we love you and give you back, in respect and preservation, as much as you’ve given us for 100 years.
One way the three of us have decided to give back is through this month-long celebration of the parks — and the books about the parks.
Click here to get our recommended book list!
Click here to enter our Goodreads give-aways:
Liz Garton Scanlon’s IN THE CANYON
Janet Fox’s FAITHFUL
Barb Rosenstock’s THE CAMPING TRIP THAT CHANGED AMERICA
And if you’re a teacher or librarian, click here for a rafflecopter entry for our GRAND PRIZE, which includes signed books by all three of us, a gorgeous piece of Grand Canyon art by illustrator Ashley Wolff, a chain-stitch embroidered patch of Sequoia National Park by Ft. Lonesome clothiers, and much more!
That’s all, folks. Hats off to the parks!
