Now available - a FREE activity guide for use with your copy of The Boreal Forest! It includes suggestions for science, social studies, and language arts, and will help support a variety of elementary school curriculum outcomes. Not to ... Read More  

Oh, Inhumans. I so wanted to like you, mostly due to my enduring crush on Anson Mount (or rather, Cullen Bohannon of Hell on Wheels). Sadly, I spent most of the time I was "watching" you making dinner, doing ... Read More  

I will be doing an online reading from The Boreal Forest TODAY as part of the #KCPSpringReading Relay. The video will go live on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at 2:30 EST, but when it's over, it's gone. Don't ... Read More  

Personal statements and letters of intent... with the possible exception of the dissertation, there are no forms of academic writing quite as likely to turn an ordinary student into a quivering ball of overwhelming anxiety. Deep breaths, all. I am ... Read More  

Here's a sidebar that I'd originally planned to include on pages 20-21: Iceland's Lake Myvatn is famous—for flies! In summer, up to 50,000 fly larvae hide in every 1 m2 (1.2 y2) of lake bed. Many birds eat these larvae, ... Read More  

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, one author’s book is giving young readers and their families a chance to see the world through fresh eyes.  L.E. Carmichael’s newest book, The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest ... Read More  

I am a huge fan of Lucifer, the show in which the devil gets tired of running Hell and moves to LA to run a nightclub... and solve crimes. It's a ridiculous premise that shouldn't work at all, and ... Read More  

As promised, here's everything you need to know about my International Day of Forests Twitter Party, including how you can enter to win an exclusive Day of Forests Prize Pack! Note, this prize pack is different than the giveaway ... Read More  

I remember the first time I heard about the use of pathetic fallacy in literature. You know: ascribing human emotions to nature in order to give the reader a sense of mood or a hint of what is to ... Read More  

Next week is March Break, and if you live near Peterborough and have kids that need entertaining.... why not let ME do it? I'm offering two programs on March 19, one of which is special sneak peak at The ... Read More  

Many moons ago when I was but a grad student, my lab, which specialized in wildlife genetics, received an unusual request:  Run a DNA test on this hair, because we're pretty sure it's Sasquatch. To be clear, the sample did not ... Read More  

How did I research The Boreal Forest? I read 238 books, scientific articles, and websites, adding up to untold thousands of pages of research (I didn't actually count). I took 72,400 words of notes (those I did count, or ... Read More  

Last time, I talked about the purpose of the most popular form of academic writing - the argumentative essay. You can also read about the distinct (but closely related) purposes of lab reports and scientific papers here. If you're ... Read More  

So, you're a woman in science. Good for you! Have you thought about what you're going to wear? Nope, I'm not talking about latex gloves, hip waders, or safety goggles, although you do look very cute in those. I'm talking ... Read More  

It's the first ever I Read Canadian Day! Take 15 minutes out of your day today to read a Canadian book. Any Canadian book! And if you are so inspired: read out loud to your class, library, family, or pet post ... Read More  

I dread reading the news these days. It’s important to stay up to date with current affairs but what do you do when almost everything you read ratchets up the stress, the tension? I’ve figured it out. You keep your eyes ... Read More  

Last week, the news broke that Canadians who are being evacuated from China will be quarantined at Canadian Forces Base Trenton for two weeks, to ensure they're not infected with the new coronavirus. This got my attention because CFB ... Read More  

When Francis Bok was seven years old, his mother sent him to the market near his village in southern Sudan to sell hard-boiled eggs and peanuts. This was the first time she’d entrusted him with this responsibility, and he ... Read More