When: Thursday, October 23, 6:30pm

Where:  Skylark Bookshop, 22 S 9th St, Columbia, MO 65201

Who’s invited: You! And all your nature-loving friends!

The Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Animals, Plants, and Fungi Wherever You Go (Ten Speed Press/Penguin Random House, June 2025) is a beginner-friendly guide to nature identification. Author Rebecca Lexa walks the reader through what traits to pay attention to on an unknown animal, plants, or mushroom, and how to use your observations to figure out what species you’ve found. No experience is necessary, and it’s not region-specific so you can use it anywhere. Helpful templates make it easy to organize your observations, and illustrations by artist Ricardo Macía Lalinde highlight key concepts throughout the book.

The book signing event features Rebecca’s talk, “Five Reasons to be an Everyday Naturalist”, which outlines some of the highlights of getting to know your nature neighbors by name. Audience participation is encouraged during interactive portions of the talk, and questions are welcome! And, of course, you can purchase your own copy of The Everyday Naturalist and get it signed.

About the author: Rebecca Lexa, MA, OMN, grew up in Rolla and is now an Oregon Master Naturalist, nature educator, and tour guide in the Pacific Northwest. Through her classes, tours, and writings, she endeavors to spend as much time as possible connecting people to the natural world while encouraging curiosity and personal experiences. More about Rebecca and her work may be found at RebeccaLexa.com.