An anonymous donor has made possible the gift of 159 copies of the young adult novel, Longleaf, recently published by NewSouth Books, to middle and elementary schools in lower Alabama. The donation was made in honor of Aaron Van Carpenter. Author Roger Reid spent last week touring South Alabama in an effort to raise awareness about the environmental significance of the longleaf pine forest and to personally deliver copies of his book to a selection of schools.
Reid toured eight middle and elementary schools in Baldwin, Mobile, Escambia and Monroe Counties in areas not too distant from Alabama’s Conecuh Forest. He was accompanied by Randy Mecredy, director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History, and Mark Hainds, research coordinator for the Longleaf Alliance, an Alabama-based conservation organization. The school visits were successful enough that a second tour is currently being considered.
In an interview with Josh Bean of the Mobile Press-Register, Reid said he, “just fell in love with the longleaf pine forest in Covington County,” when he made a visit there in the late 1990s.
Bean commented that Reid is now “bringing that love to south Alabama school children.”
Visit the Mobile Press-Register to read the full article.
Roger Reid and Discovering Alabama host Doug Phillips will be participating in a two-part lecture on the longleaf ecosystem at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens on September 30. For more information about the event, visit the Botanical Gardens website.
Longleaf is available now from NewSouth Books, Amazon.com, or your favorite online or local book retailers.