Steve Smith Weighs in on FOLLOWING ATTICUS

Steve Smith, co-author of The Four Thousand Footers of the White Mountains, sole author of several other hiking books, and co-editor of the Appalachian Mountain Club's White Mountain Guide, mentioned FOLLOWING ATTICUS in his "Nooks & Crannies" column in the MountainEar newspaper today.

VALLEY HIKING BOOK NEWS: Congrats to Tom Ryan of Jackson, whose forthcoming book, "Following Atticus" (due out in September from William Morrow), has been chosen for this fall's "One Book, One Valley," community reading program, sponsored by eleven Valley libraries and White Birch Books in North Conway. Tom is well-known on the hiking websites for his many White Mountain hiking journeys in recent years with Atticus M. Finch, his stalwart miniature schnauzer. (They can often be seen walking the roads of Jackson.)

Together they have made hundreds of mountain ascents, including several rounds of the forty-eight 4,000-footers in winter. Ryan's lyrical trip reports posted on www.viewsfromthetop.com and on his blog, "The Adventures of Tom & Atticus" (tomandatticus.blogspot. com) have earned them a large following.

"Following Atticus: Forty-Eight High Peaks, One Little Dog, and an Extraordinary Friendship," is a beautifully written work. It's both a hiking book and a dog book, but it is also, as the jacket notes, "a story of love, loss, and the resilience of the human and animal spirit."

The "One Book, One Valley" event will kick off with a book signing in September at White Birch. Over the following two months each library will host discussion groups on Ryan's book, and the program concludes in November with an audience-and-author discussion event. Ryan will use the event as a fundraiser for the Harvest Hills
Animal Shelter and the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire – North.