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The Storykeeper

Tim Z. Hernandez’ hybrid memoir investigates untold stories of lost loved ones and his own family

By Marissa Harwood | January 9, 2025
[Hernandez] wonders how the erased stories of marginalized people affect them personally, and how that erasure impacts the way their communities, their states, and their countries misunderstand who they are. Who their predecessors were. How their kin have contributed to the tapestry of collective consciousness, and how they might continue that contribution in the years to come.
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Briefly Noted


Hiking With Kids Colorado: 52 Great Hikes for Families

Jamie Siebrase
Falcon Guides, 2021
288 pages
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Hiking With Kids Colorado: 52 Great Hikes for Families provides a guide for a hike a week within a year, detailing trails suitable each season—including winter—for the entire family. Inspired by son Brian, accompanied by husband Ben and championed by her own nature-loving parents, Colorado-based author Jamie Siebrase birthed this “how to hike with children” book. (See our review of Siebrase’s picture book Tonight! A Bedtime Story here.) Winter hikes include the “Pines to Peaks Loop”, a 1.1-mile lollipop shaped treading trail, easy to access from downtown Boulder, crossing three distinct ecosystems: meadow, ponderosa pine parkland, and forest. Another hike, “Lake Gulch and Inner Canyon Loop,” begins in Castle Rock within Castlewood Canyon State Park. The 2.2-mile hike begins easy and turns moderate, passing through ponderosa pine, Gambel oaks, mountain mahogany, and snowberry along the trail. Near Snowmass Village, “The Rim Trail South to Spiral Point” boasts iconic vistas.  This is a 2.6 mile out-and-back hike that is moderate in difficulty. From the trailhead, hike west through aspen groves. This is a popular snowshoeing trail in winter. Siebrase offers useful details on subjects like trail etiquette and preparedness needs, as well as keeping canine-children leashed. The text is clearly broken down into seasonal hikes offering a variety of difficulty and distance explanations, as well as directions to trailhead locations, a familiar obstacle to the would-be family hiker. Legible trail maps show where to go once arrived and the book is peppered with fun facts. — Shelli Rottschafer

 

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