A Year of Moons: Stories From The Adirondack Foothills

by Joseph Bruchac

Overview

“There's a fresh coating of snow on the ground outside our cabin as I look to see who's coming to the fourteen feeders, we keep filled with black oil sunflower seeds year-round.” So begins A Year of Moons: Stories from the Adirondack Foothills, a collection of essays by award winning author Joeseph Bruchac. The collection is a reflection on the rhythms of the land, the lunar cycles of the year, the plants and animals that surround us, and the connections that link humans, animals and the land. With one foot rooted firmly in the inheritance of nature essays, and another rooted firmly in Bruchac's Abenaki heritage, the collection is an artifact of a beautiful landscape and the changes it encounters throughout the year. In his thoughtful and perceptive way, Bruchac contemplates the changing of the seasons, his relationship with the creatures and plant life that share his home, and a vision of stewardship. Bruchac's curiosity and reverence for the earth shines through on every page as he looks at the place he calls home with new eyes, reflected by the changing of each season's moon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682753545
Publisher:	Fulcrum Publishing
Publication date:	09/13/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Joseph Bruchac lives in the Adirondack mountain foothills town of Greenfield Center, New York, in the same house where his maternal grandparents raised him. Much of his writing draws on that land and his Native American ancestry. Although his northeastern American Indian heritage is only one part of an ethnic background that includes Slovak and English blood, those Native roots are the ones by which he has been most nourished.

Table of Contents

Introduction: A Year of Moons 9

On Haiku 12

Abenaki Moons Jesse Bowman Bruchac Joseph Elie Joubert 15

Alamikos: New Year's Greeting Moon 18

Anhaldam Mawi 18

Black Squirrel 22

Mozokas: Moose Moon 28

Moose Hunting Moon 28

Sogalikas: Moon of Flowing 34

Maple Sugar Moon 34

Falling 43

Cegwalika: Frog Moon 49

I Brake for Toads 49

Tadpoles 56

Kikas: Moon of Planting 65

Butterflies 65

Mountain Lions 67

Spring Rain 76

Nokkahigas: Moon of Hoeing 80

Ko-Ko-Leeyo-Kway! 80

Smiling Joe 85

Gray Foxes 92

Mskikoikas: Moon of Strawberries 98

Strawberries 98

Dreams 106

Libraries 113

The Blanket Tree 118

Pad&Gikas: Moon of Thunder 130

Squirrels 130

Bamboo Flute 136

Six Degrees 141

Kawakwenikas: Gatherer (Wild Harvest) Moon 150

An August Morning 150

Guilt 156

Harvest Moon 159

Skamonkas: Corn Moon 165

Deer 165

Walking 170

Penibagos: Moon of Leaves Falling 173

Falling Leaves Moon 173

Bears 176

Fear 186

Moose Spirits 191

Mzatonos: Moon of Freezing 197

Thin Ice 197

New Snow 204

Pebonkas: Moon of Long Nights 208

Fire Making 208

Breathe 216

About the Author 223

Editorial Reviews

"Joseph Bruchac is among our wisest and most enduring storytellers. His voice, his flute, and his tales are grace notes. A Year of Moons speaks to the cyclic nature of Western Abenaki home ground. Within these pages, readers will find an incantation of attention, patience, and what endures through the generations: a fierce love of place.” –Terry Tempest Williams, Author of The Hour of Land
 
“Bruchac’s A Year of Moons weaves seasonal observations, remembrances, and stories into each chapter, engaging the reader's imagination, heart, and senses, and then wraps up each one with beautiful haiku. A journey not to be missed!” –Traci Sorell, Author of Powwow Day
 
“I really appreciate A Year of Moons. It is, in my opinion, not only a summing up of a year, but in many ways a thoughtful glimpse into the world of an extremely talented writer and philosopher. In particular, he makes the Adirondacks vivid and near personal for this Mississippi Delta swamp rat.”
– Geary Hobson, Author and Poet

“Bruchac's A Year of Moons weaves seasonal observations, remembrances, and stories into each chapter, engaging the reader's imagination, heart, and senses, and then wraps up each one with beautiful haiku. A journey not to be missed!” —Traci Sorell, Author of Pow Wow Day

“A Year of Moons is a rich, eclectic combination of what Bruchac has seen and learned. . . He tells of that life in a gentle storyteller’s voice, the kind one listens to at a table in a pub or sitting around a campfire." —Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

Year of Moons by Joseph Bruchac is a Finalist in the BIPOC category in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, which is the largest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers.

A Year of Moons is the winner of the 17th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards in Nature/Indigenous/First-Nations Non-Fiction.

Winner in Nature/Indigenous/First-Nations Nonfiction

Winner in the nature category for the NYC Big Book Award 

From the Publisher