Books about faith, teenagers, and animals
Field Notes for the Wilderness: Practices for an Evolving Faith by Sarah Bessey
I'm a subscriber to Sarah Bessey's Field Notes newsletter, so I was very excited to read this book. Each chapter is formatted as a letter, written to a different identity involved with questioning faith. It's warm, down-to-earth, and full of good practical advice, an invitation to take a deep breath and not rush to fill in all the old rigid habits with new beliefs, to rest in mystery and questioning, to slow down and give yourself grace. People who have left religion entirely might not connect with the emphasis she still places on the Bible, but for those of us who have stuck around Christianity, it still resonates.
Phoebe's Diary: An Almost True Teenage Journal by Phoebe Wahl
I love Wahl's art and storytelling (her picture book The Blue House was one of my Top Five Books of 2020), and I was surprised to learn that she'd published a young adult book/graphic novel! This is a somewhat fictitious account of her sophomore year of high school, as a hybrid homeschooler/public schooler in theater and art classes in her hometown of Bellingham, Washington (the site of my first-ever solo trip, so of course I was excited about the setting!). It has The Perks of Being a Wallflower vibes, taking us through her first experiences with public school and theater, boyfriends and sex, drugs and alcohol, art teachers who pushed her and friends who helped her find belonging. It's beautifully written and illustrated, and even though my teenaged self identified a lot more with the side character who couldn't figure out why everyone else was so obsessed with sex and drugs, the intensity of the emotions and the rollercoaster of thoughts and feelings came across in a gorgeous, bittersweet way. The story doesn't really have a resolution at the end, creating an interesting feel of just being able to glimpse a single slice of someone's life. I really enjoyed it.
The Photo Ark: One Man's Quest to Document the World's Animals by Joel Sartore
Joel Sartore is a photographer who decided to try to photograph every species of animal in captivity, studio-portrait style. This book is an absolutely gorgeous curation of some of his favorite shots, documenting everything from naked mole rats (photographed at the St. Louis Zoo!) to Asian elephants, various kinds of beetles to Arctic foxes. The photos are stunning, creating a connection to the animals that we don't often get, and the way the portraits are juxtaposed against each other is very artistic, showing associations that are very moving. (One that sticks out in my mind is a spider monkey reaching their arm down on the right page, almost touching the picture of the snake-necked turtle on the other page, evoking the pose of God Creating Adam by Michelangelo.) Highly, highly recommended!
Previously on What I've Been Reading:
All What I've Been Reading posts
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