"Marcie Cuff makes nature even more fun than the way you find it. This is a book about imagination and creativity--and getting dirty. The projects in "This ""Book Was a Tree "remind me of the dozens of ways we can all connect with the natural world on a daily basis. And since Marcie writes from the heart, you can just feel the satisfaction and even joy you'll get from connecting a little bit more with the world around you. She has ideas that everyone can try alone or with friends or family. She's going to make a lot of lives simpler, happier, and more plugged in to the world that's all around us." --David Yarnold, President and CEO of National Audubon Society "It really is good to get dirty, and this is a wonderful guidebook to exactly how!" --Bill McKibben, author of "Wandering Home" "Somewhere, in a book of advice on aging, I read a fine adage: Do something real every day. That's good advice for people of every age. From the title of the book, through all of its pages of ideas and adventures, Marcie Chambers Cuff helps us remember what's real and what makes kids and their families feel fully alive in a virtual age." --Richard Louv, author of "Last Child in the Woods "and "The Nature Principle" "Whether you live in a twenty-story building in the middle of the city or on a twenty-acre preserve, this beautifully illustrated book urges us all to explore the outdoors like never before. Full of fun, simple ideas and endless inspiration, Cuff 's book will help all ages get creative and get connected--to nature, to the process, and to the world in which we live." --Bernadette Noll, author of "Slow Family Living" "A book that wonderfully captures the wandering and wonderment of my youth--and brings it to life again. Part project, part prose, what was destined for my eleven-year-old niece in New England has managed to linger on my desk for too long. I might even keep it for myself!" --M. Sanjayan, lead scientist at the Nature Conservancy ando

Marcie Cuff has an academic background in studio art, evolutionary biology and animal behavior, and an MA in Secondary Science teaching. Now a nature columnist for a regional newspaper, The Hudson Independent, she has written professionally for most of her life, and runs Mossy, a blog highlighting innovative family projects, hands-on parenting commentary, and related photography, and listed as one of Babble's top 50 Mom Craft Blogs of 2011. She works as a garden coordinator at a local elementary school, and organizes and maintains a community-based vegetable garden.