NOAA Planet Stewards Book Club

The NOAA Planet Stewards Book Club has a great line-up for this academic year. Scroll down to see the titles, brief descriptions, dates, and connection links for each meeting. Discussion questions will be posted approximately one week before each event.

To see previously selected books and discussion questions, look at our Book Club Archive Page.

To make sure you receive reminders about Book Club events, sign up to our mailing list.

General information for participating in our Book Club. Join us as we explore new and thought-provoking topics. All are welcome!

All book club meetings begin at 7:00 pm Eastern Time.
Anyone can participate - whether you’ve read the book or not.
On the day of the meeting, click on the video meeting link noted for that event. You may need to wait briefly to be let in by the facilitator.
If you prefer, you may dial into the meeting with your telephone using the event specific phone number, then enter the meeting specific PIN.
Before each meeting we will send out a reminder through our email list with discussion questions prepared by the meeting facilitator.
There are a limited number of “seats” available for each meeting. Plan to log/dial in a few minutes before the official start time.
Have questions? Contact: oceanserviceseducation@noaa.gov

October 15, 2024

The Book of Hope

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time
Video Conference Log In: meet.google.com/mxo-fkqc-owb
Phone Dial In #: (‪US‬) ‪+1 484-641-8305‬
Pin:732 637 522#‬

Looking at the headlines, a global pandemic, the worsening climate crisis, and political upheaval, it can be hard to feel optimistic. And yet hope has never been more desperately needed.

In this book, Jane Goodall and Doug Abrams explore one of the most sought-after and least understood elements of human nature: hope. In The Book of Hope, Jane focuses on her "Four Reasons for Hope": The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power of Young People, and The Indomitable Human Spirit.

The Book of Hope touches on vital questions including: How do we stay hopeful when everything seems hopeless? How do we cultivate hope in our children? Filled with engaging dialogue and pictures from Jane's storied career, The Book of Hope is a deeply personal conversation with one of the most beloved figures in today's world.

In this book, Jane tells the story of how she became a messenger of hope: from living through World War II to her years in Gombe to realizing she had to leave the forest to travel the world in her role as an advocate for environmental justice. She details the forces that shaped her hopeful worldview, her thoughts on her past, and her revelations about her next and perhaps final adventure.

There is still hope, and this book will help guide us to it.

Coming soon.

November 12, 2024

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time
Video Conference Log In: meet.google.com/mxo-fkqc-owb
Phone Dial In #: (‪US‬) ‪+1 484-641-8305‬
Pin:732 637 522#‬

Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster.Author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.

For centuries New York was famous for its oysters, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city’s economy, gastronomy, and ecology that the abundant bivalves were Gotham’s most celebrated export, a staple food for the wealthy, the poor, and tourists alike, and the primary natural defense against pollution for the city’s congested waterways.

Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight–along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos–this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the island hunting ground of the Lenape Indians to the death of the oyster beds and the rise of America’s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan’s Gilded Age dining chambers.

Coming soon.

Noviembre de 2024 (fecha exacta por determinar)

El libro de la esperanza

Hora: 7:00 PM Hora del Este
Acceso a la videollamada: meet.google.com/mxo-fkqc-owb
Llamada por teléfono: (‪US‬) ‪+1 484-641-8305‬
PIN:732 637 522#‬

La naturalista y conservacionista de renombre mundial Jane Goodall ha pasado más de medio siglo advirtiendo sobre nuestro impacto en el planeta. Desde sus famosos encuentros con chimpancés en los bosques de Gombe cuando era joven hasta su incansable campaña por el medio ambiente a finales de los ochenta, Jane se ha convertido en la madrina de una nueva generación de activistas climáticos.

En El libro de la esperanza, Jane se basa en la sabiduría de toda una vida dedicada a la naturaleza para enseñarnos cómo encontrar la fuerza frente a la crisis climática y explica por qué todavía tiene esperanza para el mundo natural y para la humanidad. En conversaciones extraordinarias con su coautor Doug Abrams, que entretejen historias de sus viajes y activismo, ofrece a los lectores una nueva comprensión de la crisis que enfrentamos y un camino convincente para que todos creemos esperanza en nuestras propias vidas y en el mundo.

Este libro profundo de una figura legendaria en la lucha contra el cambio climático muestra que, incluso frente a una gran adversidad, podemos encontrar esperanza en la naturaleza humana y en la naturaleza misma.

Próximamente.

December 10, 2024

The Best Part of Us

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time
Video Conference Log In: meet.google.com/mxo-fkqc-owb
Phone Dial In #: (‪US‬) ‪+1 484-641-8305‬
Pin:732 637 522#‬

Beth cherished her childhood summers on a pristine northern Canadian lake, where she reveled in the sweet smell of dew on early morning hikes, the loons’ evening trills across the lake’s many bays, every brush stroke of her brother’s paintings celebrating their cherished place, and their grandfather’s laughter as he welcomed neighbors to their annual Welsh harvest celebration. Theirs was an unshakeable bond with nature, family, and friends, renewed every summer on their island of granite and pines.

But that bond was threatened and then torn apart, first as rights to their island were questioned and then by nature itself, and the family was forced to leave. Fourteen years later, Beth has created a new life in urban Chicago. There, she’s erected a solid barrier between the past and present, no matter how much it costs—until her grandfather asks her to return to the island to determine its fate. Will she choose to preserve who she has become, or risk everything to discover if what was lost still remains?

Coming soon.

January 14, 2025

World Without Fish: How Kids Can Help Save the Ocean

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time
Video Conference Log In: meet.google.com/mxo-fkqc-owb
Phone Dial In #: (‪US‬) ‪+1 484-641-8305‬
Pin:732 637 522#‬

World Without Fish connects all the dots—biology, economics, evolution, politics, climate, history, culture, food, and nutrition—in a way that kids can really understand. It describes how the fish we most commonly eat, including tuna, salmon, cod, and swordfish, could disappear within 50 years, and the domino effect it would have—oceans teeming with jellyfish and turning pinkish orange from algal blooms; seabirds disappearing, then reptiles, then mammals. It describes the back-and-forth dynamic of fishermen and scientists. It covers the effects of industrialized fishing, and how bottom-dragging nets are turning the ocean floor into a desert.

The answer? Support sustainable fishing. World Without Fish tells kids exactly what they can do: Find out where those fish sticks come from. Tell your parents what’s good to buy, and what’s not. Ask the waiter if the fish on the menu is line-caught And follow simple rules: Use less plastic, and never eat endangered fish like bluefin tuna.

Interwoven with the book is a 12-page full-color graphic novel. Each beautifully illustrated chapter opener links to form a larger fictional story that complements the text. Hand in hand, they create a Silent Spring for a new generation.

Listen to an Audio “short” of chapter one.

Coming soon.

February 11, 2025

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time
Video Conference Log In: meet.google.com/mxo-fkqc-owb
Phone Dial In #: (‪US‬) ‪+1 484-641-8305‬
Pin:732 637 522#‬

Why are African Americans so underrepresented when it comes to interest in nature, outdoor recreation, and environmentalism? In this thought-provoking study, Carolyn Finney looks beyond the discourse of the environmental justice movement to examine how the natural environment has been understood, commodified, and represented by both white and black Americans. Bridging the fields of environmental history, cultural studies, critical race studies, and geography, Finney argues that the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, and racial violence have shaped cultural understandings of the "great outdoors" and determined who should and can have access to natural spaces.

Drawing on a variety of sources from film, literature, and popular culture, and analyzing different historical moments, including the establishment of the Wilderness Act in 1964 and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Finney reveals the perceived and real ways in which nature and the environment are racialized in America. Looking toward the future, she also highlights the work of African Americans who are opening doors to greater participation in environmental and conservation concerns.

Coming soon.

March 11, 2025

Remarkable Creatures

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time
Video Conference Log In: meet.google.com/mxo-fkqc-owb
Phone Dial In #: (‪US‬) ‪+1 484-641-8305‬
Pin:732 637 522#‬

In 1810, a sister and brother uncover the fossilized skull of an unknown animal in the cliffs on the south coast of England. With its long snout and prominent teeth, it might be a crocodile – except that it has a huge, bulbous eye.

Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning, who has a talent for finding fossils, and whose discovery of ancient marine reptiles such as that ichthyosaur shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world.

Working in an arena dominated by middle-class men, however, Mary finds herself out of step with her working-class background. In danger of being an outcast in her community, she takes solace in an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth Philpot, a prickly London spinster with her own passion for fossils.

The strong bond between Mary and Elizabeth sees them through struggles with poverty, rivalry and ostracism, as well as the physical dangers of their chosen obsession. It reminds us that friendship can outlast storms and landslides, anger and jealousy.

This book doesn’t seem like historical fiction but rather fictionalized history because all of the characters are historic figures. Do you think this is a fair or reasonable characterization of the book and others like it? Why or why not?
On page three of the book Mary says “Lightning has struck me all my life. Just once it was real.” What are some examples of Mary metaphorically feeling lightning strike her at other times in her life?
The author, Chevalier, offers a unique way to build characterizations: Elizabeth identifies people according to the body part they “lead with”. For example, Mary Anning leads with her eyes, her mother leads with her working hands, and the Days lead with their chests. Does this help you visualize the characters or their personalities? What body part do you think you “lead with”?
Like the Victorian era which began as this story progressed, nineteenth century English society was stratified by class and gender, and women were not considered able or interested in scientific ideas. What events or ideas in the book struck you as shocking, frustrating, or interesting?
Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpott are dynamic characters that they change over the course of the book. Their changes mirror changes in the scientific understanding of fossils that occurs at that time in history. What are some examples of changes to Mary and Elizabeth over the course of their friendship? How does the author use dialog between characters to illustrate these changes?
We teach students that creativity is part of science. On page 74 Elizabeth describes Lord Henley as “a man of little imagination who found it impossible to see the world through another’s eyes. It made his interest in fossils preposterous. Truly to appreciate what fossils are requires a leap of imagination he was not capable of making.” Do you think she is correct? What do you think the role of creativity was in understanding geologic history and the history of life during the Victorian era?
Mary and Elizabeth - and Mary’s mother Molly, consider the difference between ‘hunters’ and ‘collectors’ - and eventually ‘dealers’. How do they describe the difference between a ‘hunter’ and a ‘collector’? Do you think the distinction is valid?
Interestingly, Georges Cuvier is considered the founder of comparative anatomy, and he believed in extinction but not evolution. Why was his opinion so important to scientists of the day, and so important to Elizabeth, that she felt it necessary to go all the way to London alone to protect Mary's reputation?

April 8, 2025

Rooted in the Earth

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time
Video Conference Log In: meet.google.com/mxo-fkqc-owb
Phone Dial In #: (‪US‬) ‪+1 484-641-8305‬
Pin:732 637 522#‬

Crossing the ocean on a slave ship, working the land under threat of violence, eluding racists in nighttime chases through moonless fields and woodlands, stumbling across a murder victim hanging from a tree—these are images associated with the African American experience of nature. Over the decades, many African Americans have come to accept that natural areas are dangerous. Unfamiliar with the culture's rich environmental heritage, people overlook the knowledge and skills required at every turn in black history: thriving in natural settings in ancestral African lands, using and discovering farming techniques to survive during slavery and Reconstruction, and navigating escape routes to freedom, all of which required remarkable outdoor talents and a level of expertise far beyond what's needed to hike or camp in a national forest or park.

In Rooted in the Earth, environmental historian Dianne D. Glave overturns the stereotype that a meaningful attachment to nature and the outdoors is contrary to the black experience. In tracing the history of African Americans' relationship with the environment, emphasizing the unique preservation-conservation aspect of black environmentalism, and using her storytelling skills to re-create black naturalists of the past, Glave reclaims the African American heritage of the land. This book is a groundbreaking, important first step toward getting back into nature, not only for personal growth but for the future of the planet.

Coming soon.

May 13, 2025

Exodus

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time
Video Conference Log In: meet.google.com/mxo-fkqc-owb
Phone Dial In #: (‪US‬) ‪+1 484-641-8305‬
Pin:732 637 522#‬

Exodus, a startling, thrilling novel set in a dystopian future ravaged by global warming.

It is 2099 - and the world is gradually drowning, as mighty Arctic ice floes melt, the seas rise and land disappears forever beneath storm-tossed waves. For fifteen-year-old Mara, her family and community, huddled on the fast-disappearing island of Wing, the new century brings flight. Packed into tiny boats, a terrifying journey begins to a bizarre city that rises into the sky, built on the drowned remains of the ancient city of Glasgow. But even here there is no safety and, shut out of the city, Mara realizes they are asylum-seekers in a world torn between high-tech wizardry and the most primitive injustice. To save her people, Mara must not only find a way into the city, but also search for a new land and a new home...

Coming soon.

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