Novelist Barbara Kingsolver once wrote, "If we can't, as artists, improve on real life, we should put down our pencils and go bake bread." In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, she manages to do both, applying her literary skills to a new food environment. In her seamless diary narrative, Kingsolver tells how she and her family relocated to southern Appalachia after suffering through years of drought in Arizona. The purpose of the move was simple: The Kingsolvers sought to "live in a place that could feed us" by growing their own food and living among a community of local organic growers.

This is a serious book about important problems. Its concerns are real and urgent. It is clear, thoughtful, often amusing, passionate and appealing. It may give you a serious case of supermarket guilt, thinking of the energy footprint left by each out-of-season tomato, but you'll also find unexpected knowledge and gain the ability to make informed choices about what -- and how -- you're willing to eat.
— The Washington Post

What is likely to win the most converts, though, is the joy Kingsolver takes in food. She isn’t just an ardent preserver, following the summertime canning rituals of her farming forebears. She’s also an ardent cook, and there’s some lovely food writing here.
— The New York Times

In her engaging though sometimes preachy new book, Kingsolver recounts the year her family attempted to eat only what they could grow on their farm in Virginia or buy from local sources. The book's bulk, written and read by Kingsolver in a lightly twangy voice filled with wonder and enthusiasm, proceeds through the seasons via delightful stories about the history of their farmhouse, the exhausting bounty of the zucchini harvest, turkey chicks hatching and so on. In long sections, however, she gets on a soapbox about problems with industrial food production, fast food and Americans' ignorance of food's origins, and despite her obvious passion for the issues, the reading turns didactic and loses its pace, momentum and narrative. Her daughter Camille contributes recipes, meal plans and an enjoyable personal essay in a clear if rather monotonous voice. Hopp, Kingsolver's husband and an environmental studies professor, provides dry readings of the sidebars that have him playing "Dr. Scientist," as Kingsolver notes in an illuminating interview on the last disc. Though they may skip some of the more moralizing tracks, Kingsolver's fans and foodies alike will find this a charming, sometimes inspiring account of reconnecting with the food chain. Simultaneous release with the HarperCollins hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 26). (May)

What happens when the beloved novelist and her family decide to settle in southern Appalachia and eat only food that's available locally. With a 12-city tour; one-day -laydown. Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.

Adult/High School -This book chronicles the year that Barbara Kingsolver, along with her husband and two daughters, made a commitment to become locavores-those who eat only locally grown foods. This first entailed a move away from their home in non-food-producing Tuscon to a family farm in Virginia, where they got right down to the business of growing and raising their own food and supporting local farmers. For teens who grew up on supermarket offerings, the notion not only of growing one's own produce but also of harvesting one's own poultry was as foreign as the concept that different foods relate to different seasons. While the volume begins as an environmental treatise-the oil consumption related to transporting foodstuffs around the world is enormous-it ends, as the year ends, in a celebration of the food that physically nourishes even as the recipes and the memories of cooks and gardeners past nourish our hearts and souls. Although the book maintains that eating well is not a class issue, discussions of heirloom breeds and making cheese at home may strike some as high-flown; however, those looking for healthful alternatives to processed foods will find inspiration to seek out farmers' markets and to learn to cook and enjoy seasonal foods. Give this title to budding Martha Stewarts, green-leaning fans of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth (Rodale, 2006), and kids outraged by Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation (Houghton, 2001).-Jenny Gasset, Orange County Public Library, CA

With some assistance from her husband, Steven, and 19-year-old daughter, Camille, Kingsolver (Prodigal Summer, 2000, etc.) elegantly chronicles a year of back-to-the-land living with her family in Appalachia. After three years of drought, the author decamped from her longtime home in Arizona and set out with Steven, Camille and younger daughter Lily to inhabit fulltime his family's farm in Virginia. Their aim, she notes, was to "live in a place that could feed us," to grow their own food and join the increasingly potent movement led by organic growers and small exurban food producers. Kingsolver wants to know where her food is coming from: Her diary records her attempts to consume only those items grown locally and in season while eschewing foods that require the use of fossil fuels for transport, fertilizing and processing. (In one of biologist Steven's terrific sidebars, "Oily Food," he notes that 17 percent of the nation's energy is consumed by agriculture.) From her vegetable patch, Kingsolver discovered nifty ways to use plentiful available produce such as asparagus, rhubarb, wild mushrooms, honey, zucchini, pumpkins and tomatoes; she also spent a lot of time canning summer foods for winter. The family learned how to make cheese, visited organic farms and a working family farm in Tuscany, even grew and killed their own meat. "I'm unimpressed by arguments that condemn animal harvest," writes Kingsolver, "while ignoring, wholesale, the animal killing that underwrites vegetal foods." Elsewhere, Steven explores business topics such as the good economics of going organic; the losing battle in the use of pesticides; the importance of a restructured Farm Bill; mad cow disease; and fairtrade. Camille, meanwhile, offers anecdotes and recipes. Readers frustrated with the unhealthy, artificial food chain will take heart and inspiration here.

Charming, zestful, funny and poetic…a serious book about important problems.” — Washington Post Book World

“Charming . . . Literary magic . . . If you love the narrative voice of Barbara Kingsolver, you will be thrilled.” — Houston Chronicle

“ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE makes an important contribution to the chorus of voices calling for change.”” — Chicago Tribune

“If you...buy...one book this summer, make it this one...As satisfying and complete as a down home supper.” — Tucson Citizen

“Engaging…Absorbing…Lovely food writing…[Kingsolver] succeeds at adopting the warm tone of a confiding friend.” — Corby Kummer, New York Times Book Review

“A lovely book. ” — Los Angeles Times

“[Written] with passion and hope…This novelist paints a compelling big picture-broad and ambitious, with nary an extraneous stroke.” — Rocky Mountain News

“Homespun, unassuming, informed, positive, inspiring. . . . Unstinting in its concerns about this imperiled planet.” — Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“A profound, graceful, and literary work . . . Timeless. . . . It can change who you are.” — Rick Bass, Boston Globe

“Classy and disarming, substantive and entertaining, earnest and funny....Kingsolver takes the genre to a new literary level.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Kingsolver elegantly chronicles a year of back-to-the-land living…Readers...will take heart and inspiration here.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Kingsolver beautifully describes this experience.” — More Magazine

“Kingsolver dresses down the American food complex…These down-on-the-farm sections are inspiring and…compelling.” — Outside magazine

“Faithful, funny, and thought-provoking...Readers-whether vegetarian or carnivore-will not go hungry, literally or literarily.” — BookPage

“Equal parts folk wisdom and political activism . . . This family effort instructs as much as it entertains.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Full…of zest and sometimes ribald humor… Reading this book will make you hungry.” — Raleigh News & Observer

“Lessons learned in sustainability are worth feasting on-and taking to heart.” — Self

“Every bit as transporting as-and more ecologically relevant than-any “Year In Provence”-style escapism...Earthy...informative....[and] englightened.” — Washington Post

“Provocative . . . Kingsolver . . . evokes the sheer joy of producing one’s own food.” — People

“An impassioned, sensual, smart and witty narrative…Kinsolver is a master at leavening a serious message with humor.” — St. Petersburg Times

“Wry, insightful and inspiring to anyone who yearns to work with the earth.” — Chicago Tribune (on the audiobook)

“Kingsolver…adds enough texture and zest to stir wistful yearnings in all of us...[A] vicarious taste of domesticity.” — Christian Science Monitor

“A terrific effort. The delight for readers…is the chance to experience the rediscovery of community through food.” — The Oregonian (Portland)

“Kingsolver, who writes evocatively about our connection to place, does so here with characteristic glowing prose. She provides the rapture.” — Miami Herald

“If you’re interested in learning more about healthful eating, you’ll want to read…ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE.” — Charlotte Observer

“Loaded with terrific information about everything from growth hormones to farm subsidies.” — Entertainment Weekly

“Kingsolver carries us along in her distinct and breezy prose.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“I defy anyone to read this book and walk away from it without gaining at least the desire to change.” — Bookreporter.com

“Charming...and persuasive...Each season-and chapter-unfolds with a natural rhythm and mouth-watering appeal.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Anyone who read and appreciated THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA by Michael Pollan will want to read Barbara Kingsolver’s book.” — Roanoke Times

“[This] is a book that, without being preachy, makes a solid case for eating locally instead of globally.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Highly digestible…Engaging.” — Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe

“Other notable writers have addressed this topic, but Kingsolver claims it as her own....Self-deprecating instead of self-righteous.” — Charlotte Observer

“Delectable . . . steeped in elegant prose and seasoned with smart morsels about the food industry.” — Chicago Tribune

“[Kingsolver is] a master storyteller, and even those who’ve heard this tale before will be captivated.” — Daily News

“ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE is a chronicle of food feats…I’m inclined to agree with most points Kingsolver makes.” — Chicago Sun-Times

Kingsolver’s passionate new tome records in detail a year lived in sync with the season’s ebb and flow…Writing with her usual sharp eye for irony, she urges readers to follow her example and reconnect with their food’s source.”

A profound, graceful, and literary work…Timeless…It can change who you are.”

Engaging…Absorbing…Lovely food writing…[Kingsolver] succeeds at adopting the warm tone of a confiding friend.”

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes an important contribution to the chorus of voices calling for change.”

Loaded with terrific information about everything from growth hormones to farm subsidies.”

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a chronicle of food feats…I’m inclined to agree with most points Kingsolver makes.”

Charming…and persuasive…Each season—and chapter—unfolds with a natural rhythm and mouth-watering appeal.”

The book is so jam-packed with information that listeners will want to take notes…The farmyard sound effects are not to be missed. A Best Audiobook of 2007.”

This is a serious book about important problems. Its concerns are real and urgent. It is clear, thoughtful, often amusing, passionate, and appealing.”

Kingsolver…adds enough texture and zest to stir wistful yearnings in all of us…[A] vicarious taste of domesticity.”

A lovely book. ”

Provocative…[Kingsolver] evokes the sheer joy of producing one’s own food.”

Charming . . . Literary magic . . . If you love the narrative voice of Barbara Kingsolver, you will be thrilled.

Homespun, unassuming, informed, positive, inspiring. . . . Unstinting in its concerns about this imperiled planet.

Charming, zestful, funny and poetic…a serious book about important problems.

[Written] with passion and hope…This novelist paints a compelling big picture-broad and ambitious, with nary an extraneous stroke.

Engaging…Absorbing…Lovely food writing…[Kingsolver] succeeds at adopting the warm tone of a confiding friend.

A profound, graceful, and literary work . . . Timeless. . . . It can change who you are.

If you...buy...one book this summer, make it this one...As satisfying and complete as a down home supper.

Kingsolver dresses down the American food complex…These down-on-the-farm sections are inspiring and…compelling.

Highly digestible…Engaging.

Faithful, funny, and thought-provoking...Readers-whether vegetarian or carnivore-will not go hungry, literally or literarily.

Anyone who read and appreciated THE OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA by Michael Pollan will want to read Barbara Kingsolver’s book.

[Kingsolver is] a master storyteller, and even those who’ve heard this tale before will be captivated.

I defy anyone to read this book and walk away from it without gaining at least the desire to change.

An impassioned, sensual, smart and witty narrative…Kinsolver is a master at leavening a serious message with humor.

If you’re interested in learning more about healthful eating, you’ll want to read…ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE.

Kingsolver, who writes evocatively about our connection to place, does so here with characteristic glowing prose. She provides the rapture.

A terrific effort. The delight for readers…is the chance to experience the rediscovery of community through food.

Equal parts folk wisdom and political activism . . . This family effort instructs as much as it entertains.

[This] is a book that, without being preachy, makes a solid case for eating locally instead of globally.

Kingsolver beautifully describes this experience.

Wry, insightful and inspiring to anyone who yearns to work with the earth.

Lessons learned in sustainability are worth feasting on-and taking to heart.

Full…of zest and sometimes ribald humor… Reading this book will make you hungry.

Every bit as transporting as-and more ecologically relevant than-any “Year In Provence”-style escapism...Earthy...informative....[and] englightened.

Delectable . . . steeped in elegant prose and seasoned with smart morsels about the food industry.

Kingsolver, who writes evocatively about our connection to place, does so here with characteristic glowing prose. She provides the rapture.

A lovely book.

Kingsolver dresses down the American food complex…These down-on-the-farm sections are inspiring and…compelling.

ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE is a chronicle of food feats…I’m inclined to agree with most points Kingsolver makes.

Other notable writers have addressed this topic, but Kingsolver claims it as her own....Self-deprecating instead of self-righteous.

Lessons learned in sustainability are worth feasting on-and taking to heart.

Homespun, unassuming, informed, positive, inspiring. . . . Unstinting in its concerns about this imperiled planet.

"Provocative . . . Kingsolver . . . evokes the sheer joy of producing one’s own food."

"Kingsolver beautifully describes this experience."

Eaters must understand that how we eat determines how the world is used.” They will with the help of this book from the Kingsolver-Hopp family. And why not make the narration of this book a family affair—since it’s a chronology of “a year of conscious food choices involving abstinence from industrial food”? The process includes vegetable growing and canning, cheese-making, poultry-raising and -slaughtering, and “locovore” shopping. Hopp, Kingsolver’s husband, supplies scientific asides and practical suggestions on how to make better use of the world around us. Daughter Camille suggests recipes and meal plans. The book is so jam-packed with information that listeners will want to take notes. There’s a Web site, as well. And the farmyard sound effects are not to be missed. D.P.D. AudioFile Best Audiobook of 2007 © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine