New Release

List: $29.95   New Release Price $24.95
SOFTCOVER  |  6" x 9"     
360 pages | full color
Published October 31, 2023 
A first-of-its-kind guide that showcases an incredibly diverse group of insects—the true bugs (Heteroptera)—and their connection with native plants. 

While most true bugs have a varied diet of plant and animal matter, many spend much of their lives on flowers and flowering plants. In addition, these lesser known, misunderstood, and often maligned insects provide essential ecological services such as pest control and pollination.

Highlighting their importance, this ground-breaking field guide provides a useful resource for citizen scientists and field biologists to study, identify, and appreciate true bugs in the Midwest.
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This flower bug guide includes:
  •  hundreds of photographs from dozens of families,
  •  tips on when and how to find these bugs, and
  •  their associated native flowering plants and habitats.

RECENT RELEASES

List: $44.95  Sale $39.95
SOFTCOVER  |  9" x 11"  | 420 pages  
full color  ​|  ISBN 9780991356348​

Softcover Edition

WASPS  is the first full-color, illustrated guide featuring approximately 150 species of flower-visiting wasps that occur in eastern North America, and the specific native plants and habitat each species depends upon. Written with an ecological lens, this richly-illustrated book details wasp diversity and has full-page profiles for each wasp species that include identification tips, geographic range maps, biology, prey, natural history and habitat. 

Five introductory chapters cover wasp taxonomy, nesting biology, prey-hunting behaviors, diet, anatomy, as well as wasp habitat enhancement and management, and the ecosystem services provided by wasps—insect pest population control and pollination. Profiles of each wasp species comprise the major part of the book and are organized by family, showcasing twelve families and sixty-eight wasp genera. Also included are eastern North American regional native plant guides, tips on wasp observation, and over 1000 stunning photographs. ​
WINNER OF SEVEN BOOK AWARDS
PREVIEW THE BOOK
New Children's Book
Awards
Silver Medal - Midwest Independent Publishers Association: Non Fiction – Children’s & Young Adult
Bronze Medal - Moonbeam Children's Book Awards: Environmental Issues
Grandma Lisa's Humming, Buzzing, Chirping Garden
Join Grandma Lisa as she enlists the enthusiastic help of her grandchildren in transforming her yard into an attractive garden for wildlife. Along the way she explains why planting native species is so important and allays the children’s fear of insects by lovingly showing them how these critters are so essential to our world. 
HARDCOVER  |  11" x 8.5"  | 40 pages  |  full color
Ages 5 to 10
​Published July 27, 2021   |   ISBN 9780991356331
List $17.95  —  Sale $14.95

New! Lesson Plan for Grandma Lisa's Humming, Buzzing, Chirping Garden
 Praise for Grandma Lisa's Humming, Buzzing, Chirping Garden
Caring for the environment starts at home and ideally begins at a very young age, lasting for a lifetime. Grandma Lisa’s Humming, Buzzing, Chirping Garden is a beautiful way to start this conversation with children about the environment. The book uses “Grandma Lisa” (the author) to introduce kids to the wonder, complexity and importance of nature, showing how fun family garden projects can help support wildlife. Many adults may learn a thing or two while reading this book with their kids (why butterfly bush is not a good plant choice, what a food web is, and much more). Pick up a copy and help empower the next generation to become “responsible caretakers of the Earth” just like Grandma Lisa. 
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Kim Eierman
Author, The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening
Founder, EcoBeneficial LLC

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE

This new field guide reveals the marvelous diversity and natural history of flower flies in Minnesota. 
List: $24.95  Sale $21.95

BEST SELLING TITLE

Over 30,000 copies sold

​A comprehensive book illustrating the specific relationships between native pollinators, beneficial insects, and native plants. Organized by plant communities, the book profiles over 65 perennial native plants of the Midwest, Great Lakes region, Northeast and southern Canada and the pollinators, beneficial insects and flower visitors the plants attract.
List $29.95 
​Sale $22.95

CHILDREN'S NATURE BOOKS

ONE OF OUR AWARD WINNING TITLES

List $29.95 
​Sale $22.95
BEE IDENTIFICATION SECTION
  • A comprehensive guide illustrating the bees that occur in north-central and eastern United States and southern Canada
  • ​In-depth profiles of 27 bee genera  covering  the life cycles, habitats, diet, foraging behaviors, crops pollinated, nesting lifestyles, seasonality, and preferred native forage plants
  • 12 additional summary profiles for uncommon genera
PLANT SECTION: WHAT TO PLANT FOR BEES
  • Comprehensive profiles of approximately 100 native trees, shrubs, and perennials for the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Northeast regions including insect and bird visitation information and bee specializations
  • ​Over 1500 stunning photographs, detailed descriptions, and accessible science​ ​

Winner of six book awards
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​2018 American Horticultural Society (AHS) Book Award
​2018 Midwest Independent Publishing Association (MIPA) Finalist Book Award: Nature
​2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award (NGIBA) ​​Finalist: Science, Nature, Environment
​2017 National Indie Excellence Award (NIEA) Winner: Nature

​2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award (NGIBA) Winner: Regional Non-Fiction
2017 Independent Publisher (IPPY) Silver Book Award: Environment, Ecology, and Nature
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We are a small, Minnesota-based, award-winning press specializing in non-fiction, natural history books. 
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We publish books in the following subject areas:
Botany
Ecology
Entomology
Sustainable Landscape Design
Ecological Land Stewardship
Natural History
Nature