A gravel road with fishing access stretches across sleeping alfalfa and barley fields that line the several braids of our valley's river, fault lines forming mountain ranges to east and west. Walking dogs in spring sun, i see a puff of smoke from a foothill ridge. Then 2, and 3. Forest Service fire and wildlife managers have jumped into a "window" of correct conditions, and a habitat improvement project burns lightly above town.

If we humans were more aware of fire's role and less afraid of all it can take away from us, more frequent small fires might have held at bay some of the massive fires providing headlines today. Combine our confusion with our climate-changing addiction to fossil fuels, and we've got the New West of Laura Pritchett's magnetic story--Playing with (Wild)Fire.

The many voices of a mountain community with its varied odd-duck people chorus under dry journalistic reports and lift ashes into new life, new understandings. In this remarkable story of We, not Me, Pritchett plays with structure in ways that open readers to her playful explorations of our entangled humanity. Skip the headlines--Read this book!