The Quarry Fox: And Other Critters of the Wild Catskills Hardcover – March 7, 2017

The Quarry Fox, by Leslie T. Sharpe will join the realm of the classics in nature writing as well as literature. From Chapter One, The Courage of Crustaceans, to the last chapter, Our American Bear, the author settles us into the geological history, beauty and wildness of the Western Catskills. She first places us in a gelid stream finally broken after a winter’s freeze and grabs our attention with the lowly crayfish (as it grabs onto her), one of her beloved critters. We learn and fall in love with this crustacean’s life as much as we are touched by the tenuous lives of the robins, bluebirds, quarry fox, mountain cats and black bears. That we do so is thanks to Ms. Sharpe’s talent in supplying context with both passionate care, generosity and love, and the dispassion of an intelligent scientific observer. In her constant quest to satisfy her unbridled curiosity, the author intersperses her conversations with old-timers in the region whose stories add facts and color to a superb narrative. I like to think of this book in every family’s library with its pages dog-eared from frequent re-readings and referencing.

Although I don’t live near the Great Western Catskills, reading "The Quarry Fox" not only transported me there but inspired me to pay deeper attention to the wonders of nature near my home in the Pacific Northwest. What a rare pleasure to spend time with Sharpe and the creatures, plants, and seasons she describes so deftly here! Sharpe’s beautiful prose and keen observations create such a vivid portrait of life’s wonders large and small, you can’t help but see things anew in your own backyard. This is a lovely book, a meditation reminiscent of Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, that teaches you not only how to really see, but how to be fully present in our hectic world.

When she was just 7-years-old, Leslie Sharpe was already in awe of the natural world.“My discovery of the ‘sand crab,’ a tiny crustacean that makes its living at the sea’s edge, where waves crash against the shore . . . was my first intimation that the world was both larger and smaller than I knew . . . a world that held as many secrets as it did surprising and secretivecritters . . ..”In "The Quarry Fox, and Other Critters of the Western Catskills," author Ms. Sharpe shares the myriad secrets she has learned about critters of all kinds that dominate the region she now calls home. In lyrical and poetic prose, she describes the history and lore of this fascinating area, and transports readers to its midst.In addition to her scientific observations of the place and its creatures, Ms. Sharpe reveals great depth of feeling about them. Only someone who is fully alive, intensely curious, and enormously gifted as a writer could create a work as captivating and poignant as this remarkable new book. Highly recommended.

Five stars, very enjoyable, and a good message to those who want to feel more of the natural world in their lives: be out there often and pay attention.One footnote: make sure you've read the subtitle so you know it's about the Catskills in NY state, not a major wildland somewhere, for example someone writing about what happens around their cabin in Alaska or the Canadian Rockies, say. (That's not anywhere near a problem for me, but it might be for others if they expect something different.)However, I was dumbfounded, I have to say, at the beginning of Chapter 9 (p. 177 in the 2017 hardcover edition), where Ms. Sharpe, otherwise seemingly really well versed on many subjects, writes that the N. Am. black bear is " ' the largest living terrestrial carnivore' in North America." The internal quote, she says, is from a 2006 Peterson field guide, which is hard to believe if it corroborates the rest of the sentence, i.e., the words "in North America." I'm kinda thinking any PFG author would know of the existence of the grizzly/brown species/subspecies.

I meant to flip through the pages but started reading and couldn't put it down! Such elegant prose, it sucks you in. Great illustrations, too! I was transported to the Catskills and experienced the wilderness through the loving compassionate voice of the narrator. Such a beautiful intimate account of all the critters, including humans. I loved "meeting" the farmer with the pipe whose wife wants him to quit but he says that he's still kicking. The author gives voice to the people and wildlife of the Catskills and illustrates how interconnected our worlds are. Something we seem to forget tucked away in our little cubicles. This is a book I will keep returning to!

“The Quarry Fox” is simply a joy to read. Leslie Sharpe’s enchanting stories of her observances of nature and animals in the Catskills are enlightening, educational and most of all entertaining! Anyone who is interested in the natural world or even in just terrific story telling will absolutely love reading this book. Preservation of these beautiful creatures and their habitats makes a book like “The Quarry Fox” more important than ever!

Upon picking up the book, I was immediately immersed in a world of mountains, trees, rocks, streams, flora, birds, bears, deer, fox, and other critters. From the beginning till the end, I luxuriated in Leslie T. Sharpe’s #TheQuarryFoxAndOtherCrttersOfTheWildCatskills. Ms. Sharpe is a Buddhist master, a Native American storyteller, a nature guide, a geologist, a word maestro. ‬She finds Zen in her everyday chores, and moves through the forest becoming one with the fauna and landscape.

Wonderful book that transports you to the natural environs of which Sharpe writes. The author's vivid language conveys her profound love for the critters with whom she share the land. I enjoyed it thoroughly and promptly bought another copy for my sister who has made her own new home in the same magestic region of New York. Highly recommend.