This is one of my favorite Long Live Earth reviews. I get such a kick out of it:
Horrors!, July 10, 2002I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also get a real kick in the pants out of this comment addressing Ms. Poppins’ review:
I decided to illustrate Long Live Earth with fabric scraps because quilting is an age old form of recycling. For whatever reason I tended to think of quilting as mainly an American labor with images coming to mind of bonneted pioneer women, log cabins and Pa Ingalls in his red long johns. In reality this couldn’t be further from the truth. The earliest known quilt dates back to the Pharaoh of the Egyptian First Dynasty, about 3400 B.C.
The other day I stumbled upon this little movie short called 100 Good Wishes Quilt – The Virtue to Sustain Love and Environment which I can’t seem to watch without crying.
I am feeling very humbled. Twenty years on I had hoped that people would still be appreciative of the topical message and patched up illustrations of Long Live Earth’s Anniversary Edition. But I never expected reviews like these last few. Here is the most recent review from a true blue Top 50, Vine Voice Amazon reviewer. Wow. Many heartfelt thanks to L.M. Keefer:
If you are looking for a charming, colorful and creative book to teach children about taking care of our earth, this book delights. The illustrations embody the philosophy: they are quilt squares, making use of unused fabric. Each illustration is imaginatively conceived and stitched. Children will have fun talking about what they see in the squares. The illustrations are quite winsome.
The book is brimming with actionable ideas on what children can do to take care of our beautiful earth: waste less, use non-chemical sprays, don’t litter, take the train or bus when you can, plant a garden, recycle etc. The book can be a catalyst for an adult to think together of ideas with a child on how to take care of the earth. It would also be wonderful in a classroom to think of a class project on how they can care for the earth. Then, for an art activity, the students could create a patchwork square of their own out of collage materials to illustrate something they love about the exquisite earth that is worth preserving. The squares could be placed together on a bulletin board. When I taught preschool and elementary classes, I would ask design stores for any leftover wallpaper books and use the wallpaper for art projects as the wallpaper was patterned like fabric but could be glued instead of stitched.
For parents who care about cultivating a care for the earth in their children, this book enchants. It has depth. The author wrote in the forward that some years ago she was looking for a book to teach her son care for the earth. When she couldn’t find what she was looking for, she wrote this book and stitched the quilt squares. She has designed textiles for the home furnishings industry, exhibited her award winning art internationally and studied art at Parsons School of Design and Boston University. The art is truly fetching. Quilters and home schools would appreciate this book, too.
Nov 18, 2013 Jan Greene rated it 5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for: Parents and teachers of kids K-5.
A great book to remind kids about caring for the environment. The quilted artwork is pretty incredible too! I will read this to each of my grandchildren.
Or maybe a rock.
Whether in our heart of hearts or the deepest darkest Peru of our subconscious we all know that the omnipresent ambush of technology is not doing our kids any favors. Sure they can Tweet at 6 and Vine at 9 and do god knows what at 12 but the more important question is what are are they not doing… getting dirty? Mucking around? Taking direction from no one and nobody while spontaneously connecting with the planet on which they live?
This Christmas take a cue from Project Wild Thing created by David Bond, self-appointed Marketing Director for Nature. Unplug your kids and throw throw them out the door. You’ll be glad you did. And so will they.
Check out at the Kickstarter video (below) to get the gist though happily their documentary was fully funded on December 6. Now all we have to do is get our lazy butts in front of the film.
Thank you Nelson Mandela for inspiring this video, and all of these young people. I dare you not to be inspired, too…
Join us at http://350.org
Speaking of evolution (see yesterday’s post “Evolution as Historical Fiction?” ) I think we’re all familiar with the term Darwinism. But have you heard of Wallacism? Nah, me neither. Probably because I just made it up.
Most of us automatically equate evolution with Charles Darwin, or Darwinism. We do not equate it with his determined, humble, largely forgotten and charmingly generous friend A.R. Wallace. In fact, most of us have never even heard of A.R. Wallace. Or Wallacism. Again, probably because I just made it up.
All the more reason to watch this quirky paper puppet animation celebrating Wallacism and the life and adventures of the other father of evolution. That was the third reference to the term Wallacism which now makes it an officially coined phrase. Maybe. I don’t know if it actually works like that. I just made that up. Sometimes it’s just easier to make things up than to go to the trouble of proving every little thing. Thankfully, Darwin and Wallace went to the trouble. They did not deal in fiction or make things up.
Speaking of fiction and making things up, let’s hope Amazon has not lumped Darwin (and Wallace’s) The Origin of the Species into their prehistoric fiction category alongside Long Live Earth. But if they did I hope it also made it into the top 100. I think. 
BY FLORA LICHTMAN AND SHARON SHATTUCKNovember 4th, 2013 from the New York Times.
Here’s a good one. Amazon just categorized Long Live Earth as historical fiction:
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54 in Books > Children’s Books > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > Prehistory
I guess it was presumptuous of me but I assumed that an evolution theme would be lumped in somewhere (anywhere) amongst the non-fiction. Read the first first few pages of Long Live Earth below… pretty straightforward stuff.
Who is pulling those levers over there anyway? Is the Great Oz of Amazon a Creationist? Or is just his algorithm a Creationist?
Oh well. If Long Live Earth (and evolution) have to be categorized as prehistorical fiction I should at least be grateful that it has made the top 100 in that list. I think.
Just sittin here talkin movies.
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