Edited by Gary Schmidt and Susan M. Felch
Illustrations by Barry Moser
Explore the rich vibrancy of summer and
reflect on how nature teaches us to value time—in this
collection of reflections by our greatest writers.
A season of both growth and of stillness,
of hard work in the garden and of relaxing in the cool of the mountains, summer is a
celebratory time. Every day matters, says summer. Look around
you. Life is starting up again after a long winter and spring,
and we find ourselves in a world filled with creatures and
plants and shimmers of heat on the subway, with backyard
cookouts and ice cream trucks jingling through the
neighborhood.
This collection of powerful, stirring
pieces from a wealth of sources—ranging from poems
composed in eighth-century China to letters from a pioneer
woman in the American West, from the Declaration of
Independence to Ray Bradbury’s musings on childhood
summers—invites us all to fully experience the rich and
bountiful spirituality of summer.
From Summer: A
Spiritual Biography of the Season
“We began haying July 5 and finished
September 8. After working so hard and so steadily I decided on
a day off, so yesterday I saddled the pony, took a few things I
needed and [my daughter] and I fared forth. We got away by
sunup and a glorious day we had. We followed a stream higher
into the mountains and the air was so keen and clear at first
we had on our coats. There was a tang of sage and of pine in
the air, and our horse was midside deep in rabbit-brush, a
shrub just covered with flowers that look and smell like
goldenrod. The blue distance promised many alluring adventures,
so we went along singing and simply gulping in
summer.”
—Elinore
Pruitt Stewart
“Some of the most powerful memories
of summer come out of our childhood, when we wake up on a June
morning and suddenly remember that school is out and that
summer stretches in front of us as endlessly as the infinities
of space. Everything is different. The old routines are gone.
The relentless school bus isn’t coming. The bells will be
silent in silent hallways. And all the world is leafy green,
and will be green, forever and ever.”
—Ray
Bradbury
“A declaration of … the impact
of seasons on our spiritual lives.”
—New
York Times
“Beautiful…. It is indeed a
joyous and penetrating look at the spiritual possibilities
available to us.”
—National
Public Radio
Barry Mosher,
one of the foremost illustrators working today, has illustrated
many books for adults and children, including The Pennyroyal
Caxton edition of the King James Bible and Lewis
Carroll’s Alice: Through the
Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.
