The Carver's Daughter: A Memoir

Growing up as the only child of a woodcarver with a passion for birds was strange enough. But when I acquired a sibling, life got weird-considering that sibling was a museum.

The milestones of my childhood involved hiking through bogs, snipping foliage out of aluminum pie pans, driving an opinionated tractor, and handing out pamphlets as a child activist. Through it all was my father, Bob Spear, a force of nature disguised as a quiet man. He created the Birds of Vermont Museum through vision...