that she began in Build Me an Ark (2001). In this unusually affecting and radiant spiritual memoir, Peterson recounts her resistance to End Times teachings. Surely, life on earth is sacred, thought this "increasingly mutinous mystic" alert to the contradictions between her parents' heaven-focused religion and her CIA-employed mother's earthiness and her gifted father's devotion to nature as chief of the U.S. Forest Service. With stirring immediacy, Peterson describes the traumatic awakenings during the 1960s and 1970s that inspired her to reject the concept of the Rapture and embrace the effort to preserve earthly creation. Guided by exceptional mentors, Peterson endured experiences painful, ludicrous, and profound in small towns, a "boot camp for Southern Baptists," and the offices of the New Yorker before finding her true home on the Pacific coast. Frankly and knowledgeably critiquing evangelicalism and holier-than-thou environmentalism, Peterson seeks a meeting of church and earth in this witty, enrapturing account of a spiritual journey of great relevance to us all. --Donna Seaman More About the Author My new YA crossover novel, The DROWNING WORLD is just out in ebook and in paperback in November. For the first interview with the author with back story on this new novel, check out the I am a Mermaid blog by Mermaid author extraordinaire, Carolyn Turgeon. http://iamamermaid.com/2012/09/04/brenda\\... Our new children's picture book LEOPARD AND SILKIE: ONE BOY'S QUEST TO SAVE THE SEAL PUPS is just out and featured in a national NPR "LIving on Earth" story at this link: WATCH Brenda's BOOK