Memorial Stones Field Guide is Nearly Here!

An Excerpt and Update From Our Next Book (Day 84)

It occurred to us that we’ve gone a while without writing about rocks! We have been rock negligent.

So, we thought we’d give you all a little treat by publishing an excerpt from the upcoming guide, More NH Rocks That Rock: Memorial Stones. After the excerpt, we’ll give you an update on the book. Ready? Here we go!

GREELEY MEMORIAL STONE

Explaining Horace Greeley to an eight year old has its challenges. Little Bean is staring at his memorial marker in the middle of the beautiful Amherst Town Common, trying to connect with the words, but there’s not much to go on. The stone says he ran for president, but lots of people did that. The plaque says he was a member of Congress, but well, lots of people did that too.

“What’s the New York Tribune?” she asks.

“A famous newspaper,” I tell her. “Horace was also a famous writer and reporter.” I pause. “Like your daddy, but way more famous.”

That does the trick. “Ok,” she says, “he’s in.”

And so, Horace passes the Little Bean smell test.

For now, there’s something far more important that’s bugging my daughter. The smell wafting over from a nearby deli is setting our stomachs on a growl.

“We have to eat whatever that is,” she says.

As it turns out, that smell is homemade bacon pizza, fresh out of the oven. We take our pizza, Fanta, and chips back across to the park and sit under a tree within site of the Greeley monument and feast.

“We have to come back here, Daddy,” she says.

I know she’s talking about the pizza, but that’s okay. Horace seemed like the type that would approve.

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WHERE DO THINGS STAND NOW? Just this morning, final edits went back to my publisher which means the manuscript is mere days away from heading off to the printer. That means the book will have a publication date for sometime in mid-to-late February. We will of course announce that as far ahead of time as we can!

This book, like the first, will also come with a Patch Challenge and Completion Certificate. Little Bean is hard at work designing that.

We do expect to have some in-person events and a big book launch, but given that it’s winter and school time we may just do a soft launch right now and have a bigger thing in the spring.

Speaking of soft launch, you can pre-order the book now from Hobblebush Books here: More NH Rocks That Rock. If you’d like to learn more about Dan’s books, check out the bookstore here: Books by Dan Szczesny.

Finally, if you’d like to contribute to Little Bean’s fossil collection fund, you may do so here: Buy Little Bean A Fossil