Each week, as part of SunLit – The Sun’s literature section – we feature recommendations from Colorado bookstore staff. This week, the staff at Poor Richard’s Books in Colorado Springs recommends volumes about chickens, bears and bird watching.

What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird

By Sy Montgomery
Atria Books
$22.99
November 2024
Purchase

From the publisher: For more than two decades, Sy Montgomery — whose “The Soul of an Octopus” was a National Book Award finalist — has raised a flock of chickens in his backyard. Each chicken has an individual personality (outgoing or shy, loud or quiet, reckless or cautious) and connects with Sy in its own way.

In this short and delightful book, Sy takes us inside the flock and reveals everything that makes chickens such remarkable creatures: just hours after leaving the egg, they are able to walk, run and peck ; relationships are important to them and an average chicken can recognize over 100 other chickens; they remember the past and anticipate the future; and they communicate specific information via at least 24 separate calls. Visitors to his house are amazed by it all, but for Sy, what’s more astonishing is how little most people know about chickens, especially since there are about 20 percent of them. more chickens than humans on Earth.

From Jeffery Payne, Assistant Director of Retail: Sy Montgomery speaks and understands “chicken” well. For this we are grateful. Drawing on years of caring for chickens (before it was fashionable), Ms. Montgomery shares enduring and delightful experiences about living with and caring for her clucking friends. Despite what those who don’t care for chickens think, these simple hens and roosters lead very complicated and elaborate lives. His observations will make the reader smile and, perhaps, provoke an appreciation of an often overlooked chicken.

(On a personal note: a few years ago I decided that I must have chickens. I brought home four fluffy chicks from Big R. It was one of the best things I ever did. The author’s thoughts are spot on when describing personalities and distinctive traits. One of my “ladies”, Pearl, followed me around the yard like a little puppy, loved to be held. Take the plunge, go get yourself a little pouch.)

Eight bears

By Gloria Dickie
WW Norton & Co.
$30
July 2023
Purchase

From the publisher: Bears have always held a central place in our collective memory, from indigenous folklore and Greek mythology to 19th-century fairy tales and the modern toy store. But as humans and bears come into closer and closer contact, our relationship is approaching a critical point. Today, most of the eight remaining bear species are threatened with extinction. Some, like the panda and the polar bear, are icons of the natural world; others, like the spectacled bear and the sloth bear, are much less known.

In “Eight Bears,” journalist Gloria Dickie embarks on a journey around the world to explore the story of each bear, transporting readers from the cloud forests of the Andes to the ice floes of the Arctic; from the jungles of India to the forests of the western Rockies.

From Jeffery Payne, Assistant Director of Retail: It’s hard to believe that humans and bears once lived in relative peace millennia ago. My goodness, how that heritage and respect has changed, and not in a good way, naturally. The once mighty world of Ursidae is now reduced to just eight species. Eight.

Gloria Dickie skillfully shares the history and plight of the remaining woolly quadrupeds as she travels here and there, gaining a holistic perspective on the precarious balance between humans and bears. We are introduced to the sloth bear (aka dancing bear) who is neither cute nor cuddly as his name suggests. We encounter bear farming in Asian countries, for “bear bile” (apparently this is excellent for many diseases in other cultures). Then there’s the “two strikes” rule regarding North American black bears as they cross OUR limits of comfort and waste.

The author skillfully balances life with bears in urban corridors, our lesser respect for grizzly bears, and the courage it takes for them to survive in today’s NIMBY culture.

The chronicles of backyard birds

By Amy Tan
Alfred A. Knopf
$35
April 2024
Purchase

From the publisher: Tracking the natural beauty around us, “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” maps the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions, and beautiful original sketches. With boundless charm and wit, author Amy Tan traces her foray into birdwatching and the natural wonders of the world.

In 2016, Tan was overwhelmed by the state of the world: Hate and misinformation became a daily presence on social media, and the country felt more divided than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned to the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, to the birds that visited her garden. But what began as an attempt to find solace blossomed into something much bigger: an opportunity to savor quiet moments during an unstable time, to meaningfully connect with nature, and to imagine the complex lives of the birds she admired.

From Jeffery Payne, Assistant Director of Retail: We all know Amy Tan’s incredible gift for writing. We rejoice, tear up a little, and reflect on these moments of the spectacular prose for which she is well known. In “Backyard Bird Chronicles”, she invites us to share her pleasure of experiencing calm and eloquent moments with hummingbirds and her cheerful tit (mice?) friends. Did you know that the author is also an incredible artist/illustrator? No, I didn’t think so.

We, the readers, are invited and welcomed into the author’s garden as she nurtures nature. This beautiful book can be read as a devotional. Open any page, any day, and you will find guidance and comfort.

As part of The Colorado Sun program literature section – SunLit – we feature staff picks from bookstores across the state. Learn more.