Paddle Whispers

by Douglas Wood

Book by Wood, Douglas

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1992

About the author

Composer, recording artist, wilderness guide, and self-taught naturalist-Douglas Wood is perhaps most widely known as the highly acclaimed author of OLD TURTLE, a 1993 ABBY Award winner and an International Reading Association Book of the Year. Author of several books for readers of all ages, Douglas says he is always seeking themes that are universally significant to both children and adults. His first book for Candlewick Press, GRANDAD'S PRAYERS OF THE EARTH-winner of the Christopher Medal for "affirming the highest value of the human spirit"-quietly explores the theme of grief and healing while celebrating a human connection to the natural world and the enduring spirit of love. Douglas Wood kept in mind someone very special to his own life when writing GRANDAD'S PRAYERS OF THE EARTH. "I feel I've been getting ready to write this book all my life, for it is about my wise and gentle hero, my Grandad. It's a prayer and a thank you, a walk in the woods, and a remembering smile; and it is for anyone who has ever had a woods to walk, a prayer to whisper, a hero to love."


Douglas Wood lives with his family in a log cabin on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minnesota.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I bought this book at a used bookshop in Minnesota, probably a decade ago, I wouldn't have guessed that I'd be reading it for the first time out on my apartment balcony in New Hampshire. It's a warm June morning, and the slight scent of pine on the breeze helped evoke those memories of canoe trips in the Boundary Waters. Smell conjures memory, as Wood notes on page 127: "And I remember--it was this same smell that I first fell in love with, long ago."

All the space on the pages, the dramatic black-and-white of the illustrations, the rhythm of the "The paddle whispers, / the canoe glides..." incantation do so well at sensually evoking the experience of being on a lake in the North Woods, only gotten to by canoe--the quiet, the immediacy of surfaces, the stark beauty. It made me long to go back someday. I don't know if this book would be quite so effective if it's a place you've never been.

On another note, I didn't expect the few funny passages, but they were a good contrast to most of the rest of the book and I really enjoyed them.

[Dellah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps me articulate my love for the north woods.

[Melissa Nawyn Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites! Deeply meaningful and poetic, and also a quick "easy" read and re-read. I'd have gotten through it quicker but I keep having to set it down and feel everything it's stirring up inside of my heart.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a perspective on nature that makes you feel like you are in the woods, on the river/lake,etc. It is a book I will keep and reread!

[Will Marino]

i dont feel good giving this a rating out of 5 so i wont

[George Vaughn]

A small, but incredible book filled with the secrets of life!

[Carl Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that is as beautifully written as it is wise. A quick read, with sparse prose, poetry, and illustrations. Each passage is a musing on the author's experiences in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Wood has a keen eye for detail, a gift for lovely prose, and the ability to relate the natural environment to the human element. This is the kind of volume that lends itself to either a cover-to-cover read or picking up and reading a couple of pages at a time.

[Jennifer Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paddle Whispers by Douglas Wood. Special thank you to Hayley for loaning me her dearly loved and well traveled copy. Wonderful book about a journey into the North Woods to reconnect with nature, serenity and one's self. Best summed up by this quote from the book "all the things and beings and people of the world are not just what we can use them for." Recommended.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great reflection of life in relation to canoe trips. It is written in a unique way, sort of disconnected from one page to another, but always returning to "the paddles whisper, the canoe glides". It's great to read, if you like this kind of book, and very nice.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read it.