Journey Into Summer

An Adventurous 19,000 Mile Journey Through the North American Summer

Plot

Edwin Way Teale, a naturalist, and his wife Nellie, made four amazing road trips in the 1950s/60s to chronicle the seasons across America. This book tells of the three months of summer 1960 when they drove 19,000 miles around the country looking at everything from bugs to birds, from flowers to forests. Teale can write winningly about flora, fauna, geology, history -- and does so in a companionable way. He also meets fascinating people along the way who have stories to tell about their connections to the landscape. These books are sadly out-of-print but low-priced used copies are available and I can't recommend them highly enough -- not only for the look at the wonders of nature, but for a look back at a slower-paced, more attentive way of living.

The four books in the series are:
North with the Spring
Journey into Summer
Autumn Across America
Wandering Through Winter
--from Amazon.com review by user Alexandra MacKenzie on April 14, 2011