Excerpt from a longer article:

Timely Take-aways for Life-Long Learning: Birds and Birders

Several new and upcoming books explore the world of birds and birders. From naturalists and scientists to backyard birders, these books explore the wide range of ways people connect with birds.

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Woman, Watching: Louise de Kiriline Lawrence and the Songbirds of Pimisi Bay
Merilyn Simonds, 2022, ECW Press, an imprint of Baker & Taylor Publisher Services
Themes: Biography, Naturalist, Birds

While living in an isolated cabin in Ontario, Canada, Louise de Kiriline Lawrence worked as a nurse then devoted her life to studying birds. The author connects the life story of this pioneer of ornithology with her own passion for songbirds.

Take-aways: Use Lawrence and Simonds as examples of how naturalists yesterday and today contribute to our understanding of birds through their observations and citizen science.

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Whether helping educators keep up-to-date in their subject-areas, promoting student reading in the content-areas, or simply encouraging nonfiction leisure reading, teacher librarians need to be aware of the best new titles across the curriculum and how to activate life-long learning. - Annette Lamb ( )

In keeping with women trying to find solace in nature, this is a book for you, disillusionment, misguided career path or just not know who you are - isolation in the woods may be an answer to discovery. Nature rejuvenates as this author points out and what an inspiration the book was to me. I loved this and compared it to Macdonald's H is for Hawk and Thoreau's The Maine Woods both inspirational and so helpful to your spirit. I would recommend anyone who loves nature and gets refilled by it to read this you won't be disappointed ( )

Louise de Kiriline Lawrence gave up a life of privilege in Sweden in exchange for a life of adventure. She became a Red Cross Nurse during WWI. She married a prisoner of war and followed him to Russia, fending for herself when he entered the White Russian army and was captured. She immigrated to Canada where she was a nurse responsible in Northern Ontario and became the nurse to the famous Dionne quintuplets. Louise bought a plot of land on Pimisi Bay and built a primitive log cabin. There, she observed birds and wrote books and scholarly papers, living with her younger, second husband Len.

Bird watcher Merilyn Simonds knew Louise and after her death, bought Louise’s log cabin. She read everything by Louise, letters and books. Her deep knowledge and love for her subject shows in this remarkable biography.

As each chapter of Louise’s life came to a close, I thought ‘here’s where I speed read,’ only to discover that the next chapter was just as amazing and interesting.

If you love books about birds and nature, Woman, Watching is for you. If you like to read about strong women who forge their own unique path, this biography is for you. If you are interested in women writers and the challenges they face, you will love Louise. There is tragic romance. The challenge of aging. A brush with fame and resisting commercialization. The power of friendship. And of course, there are the stories of the birds, the insights into their lives based on hours of personal observation.

It’s a marvelous biography.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review. ( )