Introducing Michael’s forthcoming book:

The Bug Ceremony: Stories of Childhood Consciousness

One afternoon looking for bugs in her grandmother's backyard, my two-year-old niece did something peculiar.

She flipped over a rock, knelt down, and planted her face inches from the earth. She then spoke to each being squirming in the fresh soil like a close friend, pointing out their subtleties and giggling at their strange behaviors, scouring the yard to find the perfect gift to offer each one.

Driving home that evening through the winding backroads of rural Connecticut, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d witnessed something special, perhaps even important. Mila’s intuitive participation in the lives of those small creatures expressed a tenderness that shot straight to the heart, sensitizing me to their aliveness and their nuance.

Over the following days the memory replayed: our hands in damp soil, the high yellow sun, her small, buoyant voice chatting with the tiny beings as they crawled among the mycelial laceworks blooming beneath the inconspicuous rock in the overlooked corner of the yard.

Taking this as a cue, I recorded a voice memo detailing the experience and later wrote it down.

Its title: The Bug Ceremony.

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“Seeing the world through Mila and her uncle Michael's eyes in The Bug Ceremony, we are reminded of how naturally the souls of children are attuned to our amazing Earth. Reminiscent of Rachel Carson's discoveries alongside her nephew in The Sense of Wonder, even the most knowledgeable adults are wise to reacquaint themselves with the way the world appears to children, let their wonder lead the way, and experience the magic that can be found even in a backyard.”

–Grace Kenney, Environmentalist and Educator at Slate School

“Michael J. Bosco offers a series of luminous vignettes of his niece Mila, and of the innocent wisdom of childhood consciousness. In an era overwhelmed by human and environmental turmoil, Bosco invites us to reclaim that core purity ourselves – that wisdom to see and perceive, with gentleness, honesty, and grace – and to integrate it into our adult selves. We do that, and it is paradise regained.”

–Peter H. Kahn, Jr., Author of Technological Nature: Adaptation and the Future of Human Life

“Reading these stories of Mila and her devoted uncle is like remembering a part of myself that I sometimes forget to tap into; the part that sees wonder in nature, that is curious and unafraid of the unfamiliar, that feels a sense of responsibility for the well-being of all creatures. As a school psychologist I have the privilege of witnessing this unfiltered way of being often, and it’s wonderful to see a compilation of stories that allows the reader the same opportunity–so read on if you want to tap into your own magic.”

–Mayté Antelo-Ovando, Bilingual School Psychologist and Consultant

“What does it mean to have a Reverence for Life? To recognize in other aspects of the natural world the same life force that animates us? In these powerful vignettes, Bosco perfectly captures that sense of wonder by evoking his niece’s playful delight while portraying the opening of his mind to this refreshing way of seeing the world. As we undertake the task of rewilding our minds and our cultures, The Bug Ceremony can help us regain the feeling of being a part of (rather than apart from) nature.”