Join library staff and Hailey Sauer, U of MN PhD student and researcher at the St. Croix Watershed Research Station in Marine, and Louisa Bradtmiller, Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at Macalester College, for a discussion of the ArtReach NEA Big Read book of the year, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren.

Geobiologist Hope Jahren has spent her life studying trees, flowers, seeds and soil. Lab Girl is her revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also a celebration of the lifelong curiosity, humility and passion that drive every scientist. In these pages, Hope takes us back to her Minnesota childhood, where she spent hours in unfettered play in her father’s college laboratory. She tells us how she found a sanctuary in science, learning to perform lab work “with both the heart and the hands.” She introduces us to Bill, her brilliant, eccentric lab manager. And she extends the mantle of scientist to each one of her readers, inviting us to join her in observing and protecting our environment.

No registration is required.

This discussion is offered as part of ArtReach St. Croix’s NEA Big Read in the St. Croix Valley. NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.  In April 2020, we are encouraging everyone to read LAB GIRL, by Hope Jahren and join St. Croix Valley neighbors in a month of programs and activities related to themes found in the book. More information at https://www.valleyreads.org.