Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark

In this lyrical account, nature writer Henion (Phenomenal) spotlights the nocturnal wildlife she’s observed around her home in western North Carolina. Explaining that spotted salamanders live underground except for a few nights each spring when they emerge to mate, Henion recounts assisting a college biology class transport salamanders across a road that cut the amphibians off from their breeding grounds. Humans benefit when they live in harmony with nature, she contends, discussing how she planted trees and put up “bat houses” (slender bird boxes) to shield bats from light pollution and habitat loss while they, in turn, stemmed the proliferation of mosquitos and the pathogens they carry. Elsewhere, she discusses attending a moth-watching festival, hunting for bioluminescent fungi, and watching jasmine tobacco’s nocturnal blooms. The science intrigues (“Moth scales resonate at frequencies almost perfectly matched” to bats’ echolocating calls, “muffling echoes that might have otherwise revealed” the moth’s location), but Henion’s greatest gift is her ability to evoke the sense of wonder that follows from tuning in to the natural world: “Slowly, entire constellations of fireflies rise from the coal-black earth around me, twinkling with oxygen. I attempt to align with their rhythm: Inhale, light. Exhale, dark. We are breathing, in sync, on this complicated planet.” This will fill readers with awe. Agent: Heather Carr, Friedrich Agency. (Sept.)