Donna's Bookshelf.

A Warrior's Soul

SR Staley

Wheatmark

1760 E River Rd Ste 145 Tucson, AZ 85718

9781604945966, 19.95, www.amazon.com

When middle school thugs hunt for Luke, he hides, unable to trust in his martial arts training, certain he is the biggest coward that ever lived. This tense scene of avoidance begins A Warrior's Soul, by SR Staley. But both Luke and the reader understand no one can avoid facing down persistent enemies forever.

Staley trains in To Shin Do himself, a Western version of ninjutsu, and draws on his knowledge to craft realistic street battles. He also teaches at Florida State University and has written the young adult novel The Pirate of Panther Bay. A Warrior's Soul is suitable for middle school readers and will have special appeal for those who have dealt with bullies.

Dirk and two of his gang trap Luke and beat him up. School officials suggest Luke provoked Dirk, and his mother can't understand why Luke didn't just walk away - as if that thought hadn't occurred to him. Luke's friends Chuck and Lucy team up with him to plot a defense.

Chuck's plan revolves around waving around a gun as an equalizer even though he has no training in using one. Initially Luke backs him in this idea, but has bad dreams and second thoughts about the wisdom of this approach.

Luke's instincts take him back to his martial arts instructor, Peter, who welcomes him after his long absence from the dojo. Peter talks Luke and Lucy through some moves that will even out the odds if they are outnumbered by Dirk's gang.

The novel doesn't encourage confrontation. Instead, it draws on the true spirit of martial arts training, teaching young people to walk away from a fight or to evade those attempting to bully them if at all possible.

After enduring numerous threats and taunting episodes, Chuck arranges to meet Dirk outside school in a showdown. Luke, Lucy and Stan are there to support him though they disapprove of escalating the situation with a gun. Sure enough, the gun only forces the thugs to bring out knives, and the gun goes off, fortunately not killing anyone.

This time, Luke draws on all his martial arts training to win the day. He gains confidence in his skills though he knows the battle isn't over yet. It never is with bullies.

Staley's novel is a fast paced, enjoyable read that delivers not only action, but also offers insight into how martial arts training can influence young people's everyday decisions. A sequel centering on female bullies, Renegade, is due out in 2012.

Trillium Acres

Norman Julian

Trillium Publishing

1222 N. 185th Street, Suite 201 in Shoreline, WA 98133

ASIN: B004QVXGN2, $19.00, www.normanjulian.com

Essays share lessons learned from homesteading in West Virginia mountains

Norman Julian's folksy essay collection, Trillium Acres, evokes the same strong sense of place Thoreau conveyed in Walden.

Julian's place is high in the Appalachians on Snake Hill, situated north of Morgantown, West Virginia. For thirty seven years, the author homesteaded and partially subsisted on a few acres of wooded land he called Trillium Acres. The sounds of wind whistling, deer blowing, bears woo wooing, and even the high pitched squeals of one animal slaughtering another that pierced the night fostered what Julian calls "a stillness within."

As age and the passing of time began to change both Julian and the land around him, he moved back to town. A newspaperman, he seized the opportunity to write about this transition and reflect on what the land had taught him. One thing he notes is that even when someone is trying to preserve the natural balance, human presence changes it. His clearing of some trees and building of a home caused the trilliums to thin out and eventually disappear. The land, he says, "seemed to resent" his presence."

The essays are short and arranged into sections: Beginnings, Place, People, Lifestyles, Plants, Animals, and Endings. By the time readers finish the collection, they should have a vivid picture of all the inhabitants of Snake Hill and also the soil from which Julian sprung. His mother, father, and grandfather are fodder for essays, as well as many old timers and neighbors that shared their skills and wisdom with him. Readers will also enjoy the wry humor, such as the many opinions over what differentiates a mountain from a hill.

Like the Foxfire books, Trillium Acres brims with practical knowledge on planting potatoes, gathering ramps, and increasing a stock of elderberries. The book has essays on buzzards, goats, chickens, and bears.

Perhaps the strongest piece of creative nonfiction is "Bambi: Someone has to do it." It won a cash prize from the West Virginia Writers, Inc. The essay shifts between real time observations that take place during deer season with servings of facts and recollections of past encounters with deer. It examines the moral dilemma of an animal lover and respecter of life faced with an over populated species.

Julian's philosophy stems from sturdy respect for the world we live in. He has adopted our grandparents' attitude of "making do" and our parents' refusal to throw out family furniture in favor of new store bought pieces. He grew much of his own food. Built his own house. Crafted built in beds.

When Julian began clearing his land, he claims he felt like a conqueror and the animals were his subjects. His attitude changed over time. The most important lesson he took from his mountain life was this: "All the good things of the Earth are shared, or should be, not only with our species but with every living thing."

As strip mining, mountaintop removal, and climate change threaten to destroy not only the beauty of our planet, but the very ability of it to sustain our lives, Julian's essays take on greater importance. By digging deep into the specifics of one place, Julian unearths timeless truths. He enables us to see Wordsworth's "world in a grain of sand."

He explains it this way: "what happens on Trillium Acres happens everywhere." With the paving of Snake Hill Road, suburban lifestyle encroached even on this remote mountain, bringing with it the sounds of chainsaws and lawn mowers, the fences that inhibit animal migration, and the destruction of natural habitat.

Regrets as Julian leaves his home on Snake Hill? He has none about the hard work he put into his homestead. He offers an aphorism that could have been penned by Emerson himself: "Well directed labor constitutes joy."

In the essays, Julian shares the joy he gained from intimate knowledge of the land, the people, the plants, and the animals on and near Trillium Acres. He also makes clear that we are a planet "at a crossroads." We must make better choices to maintain the natural balance. The stakes? The survival of our own and other species.

Norman Julian is a columnist at large for The Dominion Post in Morgantown, West Virginia. He has been named best columnist by the West Virginia Press Association and by the Keystone Press Association. Trillium Acres is his fifth book, a sequel to Snake Hill. The winner of the West Virginia Sportswriters' award for lifetime achievement, he is also the author of Legends, a history of West Virginia University basketball. A sequel to his novel Cheat will be published soon. For more information, see his website, www.normanjulian.com.

Donna Meredith

Reviewer