Local author celebrates Earth Week with book giveaway - but there's a catch

Visiting a nearby park or forest preserve for Earth Week? There could be a free book to be found.

Local author and science teacher Carl Armstrong is celebrating Earth Week by encouraging readers to get outside and visit one of the Chicago area's many natural areas. Copies of his debut novel, "They Left One Tree," will begin appearing at trail benches and other scenic locations around DuPage and Kane counties for people to discover, starting April 16.

Hints on how to find the books, in the form of short poems, will appear on his social media accounts. Anyone who finds a book can bring it to Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville on Sunday, April 24, to have it signed. Register for the event at www.andersonsbookshop.com.

About the book: Travel to the future and through a landscape nobody has journeyed across for centuries - the interior of North America. Along the way, experience what one reader describes as, "studies of good and evil, the petty and the kind." A 2022 Prism Prize for Climate Literature Honorable Mention, Armstrong's book combines science with speculation in this dystopian, yet heartening, vision of what lies ahead.

"...could be a far-reaching look into our future if we're not careful. Disturbing. Plausible. But not without hope," reads one reader's review.

"The adventure is vivid," reads another.

Carl Armstrong has taught science at Waubonsie Valley High School since 2006 and has lived in the Chicago area for nearly 30 years.

Anyone that can't snag a free copy can buy "They Left One Tree" at Anderson's Bookshop in downtown Naperville or online anywhere books are sold. It is also available at select community libraries. Both paperback and hardcover versions are available.