Terrain.org reviews in this issue:
  

A Suburban Girl Considers the Farm
Jennifer McStotts reviews The Seasons on Henry's Farm: A Year of Food and Life on a Sustainable Farm, by Terra Brockman

As I scanned over the table of contents for The Seasons on Henry’s Farm: A Year of Food and Life on a Sustainable Farm by Terra Brockman, I saw that scattered throughout the 52 food-themed weeks that organized the book are a dozen recipes based on farm-fresh foods. On every page, I saw food, food, food, and I thought: I may not be the right person to review this book.

The Composition of Place
Simmons B. Buntin reviews Animal Logic, by Richard Barnes, and Earth Forms, by Stephen Strom

Beauty and the place of humankind are at the core of both of these attractive, large-format collections: beauty of scale and pattern, form and perspective, and timelessness and transition.

In both collections, the photographs resound. Taken separately, the books provide unique perspectives on our role in the nature of place. Taken together, they contrast elegantly even as they complement in surprising and alluring ways. Ultimately, both Animal Logic and Earth Forms delight, inspire, and provoke.

When the Rains Come, the Desert is Transformed
Julie Wnuk reviews When the Rains Come: A Naturalist's Year in the Sonoran Desert, by John Alcock

As a relatively recent transplant to Portland, Oregon, I am still trying to habituate myself to the copious amounts of rain my city receives. Most of this rain occurs during the winter months, and in turn I spend those grey, rainy days holed up indoors, indulging in reading, armchair travel, and wistful fantasies of sunny summer hikes.

The Definition of a Classic
Stephanie Eve Boone reviews Anne Franke: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife, by Francine Prose

Francine Prose, it must be said, does not share that fear, and embraces the possibility of learning something from Anne. Prose, author of Reading Like a Writer, ultimately approaches Frank’s work both as student and scholar. Having read The Diary several times as a girl, she returned to the book as she prepared to write a novel with a teenage narrator.