Pickering, Samuel. The Last Book. Nashville: U of Tennessee P, 2001. 190 pp.

(From Library Journal) - In his 11th collection of essays, Pickering (Deprived of Unhappiness) again observes nature, comments on family activities, and updates us on the Rev. Slubey Garts and the other (fictional) citizens of Carthage, TN, who have appeared in previous essays.

Continuing a pattern established in earlier essays, he wanders through woods and meadows, sometimes spotting an obscure snout weevil and munching a sassafras leaf, while musing on the delights of the season and the New England plants and animals that surround him. Family also plays a major role in these essays. In "Vetted for the Prom," the family prepares Francis for dinner with his prom date's parents. He learns that he must not lick the dessert plate, break wind, or part his hair down the middle. Pickering shares more serious concerns, as when he learns that his teenage daughter's sudden weight loss may be an indication of something more complicated. A University of Connecticut English professor and the model for Robin Williams's character in the Dead Poets Society, Pickering writes with the sensitivity and craft of a poet, finding meaning in the commonplace and ordinary. Recommended for larger public libraries. --Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo