Book Review | Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony

BOOK REVIEWS Cloud Cuckoo Land By Anthony Doerr

Reviewed by Aimee Newsom Alumni Relations Coordinator

NOLS believes that we have an obligation to help protect the wilderness and public lands we utilize as outdoor classrooms. In his latest novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and multi-time NOLS grad Anthony Doerr (see story on page 20) seems to agree as he tackles the topic of environmental stewardship in luminous fashion. Crafting beautiful descriptions and memorable characters that fans of his 2014 bestseller All the Light We Cannot See will surely appreciate, Doerr’s commentary on sustainability doubles as a stunning depiction of the power of books, memory, and story.

The back-and-forth play of plotlines will either entrance or exasperate readers of Cloud Cuckoo Land, depending on personal preference. Five distinct narratives are set eras and oceans apart as they follow characters through their unexpectedly intertwined lives. Doerr creates short chapters that flip quickly between a 15th century orphan girl and a conscripted boy in wartorn Constantinople, an 80-year-old veteran and a troubled student living in present-day Idaho, and a not-so-distant future teenager trapped inside the vault of an interstellar spaceship. NOLSies may particularly love Doerr’s careful treatment of the natural world and his exploration of human impact on global landscapes, but be prepared to fall for one (or more) of the protagonists as well. It is no easy task, but Doerr does not sacrifice character development for the sake of making ideological points.

An ancient Greek manuscript—based on a historical author but entirely a product of Doerr’s imagination—acts as a framework for the entire novel. It also allows Doerr to underscore the interconnectedness of his disparate heroes, and his readers, time and time again. There is tragedy and despair in this novel, but hope and human resilience are never far from the surface.

Singing Creek By Morgan Simmons

Reviewed by Anne McGowan Advancement Communications Coordinator

Singing Creek, a fictional chapter book for young readers ages 8 to 13, and written by NOLS alumnus Morgan Simmons, was recently released by Great Smoky Mountains Association. In Singing Creek, a talented singing crayfish named Molly McGee has big ambitions. An aquatic resident of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, she hopes to record her very own album, and, to achieve her dreams, she recruits other native aquatic species to join her band—from madtoms on tom-toms to a banjo-picking bullfrog. Just as they’re about to record, though, a mysterious stranger with a bad reputation appears, and Molly’s dreams take an unfortunate turn.

Morgan is a 1982 Semester in the Rockies graduate who spent almost three decades telling true stories of the Smokies as a former Knoxville News Sentinel reporter. This is his first work of fiction.

While entertaining, the book also teaches young readers about aquatic life in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Often overshadowed by the park’s better-known characters like black bears and elk, many unique species are found within the Smokies’ picturesque creeks, and Singing Creek brings their stories to light through both fiction and fact. Readers can flip to the book’s glossary, which features illustrated facts on each animal and information on protecting aquatic life in the Smokies, like why you shouldn’t move river rocks.

Singing Creek is available for $12.95 in the park’s visitor center bookstores and, for those who don’t live nearby, at GSMA’s online store.

Great Smoky Mountains Association is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the scientific, historical and interpretive activities of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park by providing educational products and services to park visitors.