Fiction

Anthologies	Film and Video
Audio	Historical and Literary Analyses
Biographies	Internet Resources
Book Chapters Featuring John Muir	The John Muir Library Series from Sierra Club Books
Bookmarks	Live Presentations and Enactments
Books by John Muir	Music
Children's Books	Periodicals and Notable Recent Articles from Periodicals
For Educators and Youth Group Leaders	Photography and Gift Books
Fiction	Research Tools

Note: Items shown in boldface are believed to be available for purchase at the time this bibliography was last revised. No attempt has been made to include entries from encyclopedias or similar reference works. Reviews below are authored by Harold Wood, webmaster of this site, and the opinions expressed are solely his own and do not reflect the view of the Sierra Club or any organization or institution.

Fiction

Broach, Elise, The Wolf Keepers. New York: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) Holt Books for Young Readers (October, 2016), 343 pages.
This novel for children features a story about 12-year old Lizzie whose dad is a zookeeper at a fictional California wildlife park named for John Muir. The story involves mysterious goings-on with dying wolves at the zoo, which Lizzie and her new friend Tyler try to solve. Parts of the puzzle involves John Muir's "lost cabin" in Yosemite, and stories about him and inspirational quotes from his writings. The author states that while the two children featured in the story are from her imagination, the historical characters in the novel are real, including John Muir and the first woman park ranger, Clare Marie Hodges. A fast-paced adventure-mystery story, the book is imbued with messages about John Muir, from Lizzie writing a natural journal in emulation of Muir, to reading some of his writings and letters.
There is a book jacket summary and photo of book cover for this book.

Carrozzi, Craig J., The Curse of Chief Tenaya (San Francisco: Southern Trails Publishing, 2002)
Taking place in 1891, this novel tells the story of an aging '49er who is given the job of hunting the last Grizzly of Hetch Hetchy. John Muir makes a cameo appearance near the end of the book. A series of flashbacks brings back the legendary Gold Rush days. Carrozzi dedicates the book "In memory of the lost Hetch Hetchy Valley.... May it soon rise from its watery grave."
Read Book Review by W. Tucker Clark (off-site link to PeaceCorps Writers website.)

Bartagna, Julie, John Muir Earth-Planet Universe (Edinburgh: Scottish Book Trust, 2014) .ISBN 978-1-901077-27-8 Free. Illustrated by William Goldsmith. A graphic novel of John Muir's life, prepared as an educational teaching resource, with free copies going to every secondary school in Scotland, for use by S1, S2 and S3 pupils. There are also Teaching Support Notes available to accompany the graphic novel, a John Muir Quiz, and other resources for teachers. Through this graphic novel, the Scottish Book Trust hopes to ensure that Muir's legacy is also upheld in Scotland, the land of his birth. The novel combines environmental studies with literacy in an innovative way that hasn't previously been implemented in Scotland, and is supported by accompanying online resources for teachers. As well as literacy, the novel will cover many other aspects of the Curriculum for Excellence, such as citizenship, outdoor learning and health and well being.

Commenting on the use of graphic novels as a way of engaging pupils in learning, Marc Lambert, Director of Scottish Book Trust, said: "The importance of taking care of the planet for future generations is one of the most vital lessons our children can learn. Telling the story of John Muir's life and thoughts through the highly accessible and entertaining form of a graphic novel allows us to reclaim a Scottish hero and helps children to develop a deeper understanding of the key environmental issues he campaigned for, in a creative and enjoyable way."

Pete Rawcliffe, Scottish Natural Heritage's People & Places Unit Manager, said: "The values which John Muir held dear – how much nature gives us and how important it is to protect it – ring as true today as they did in Muir's day. Outdoor learning and play is important in giving our young people the best start in life and supporting their education. This lively, fun book is a terrific tool to get children thinking and talking about nature, and to encourage them to enjoy the great outdoors. The wonderful stories and drawings certainly made me keen to get out and see more of Scotland's nature myself!"

Written by award-winning author Julia Bertagna and illustrated by Glasgow-based artist William Goldsmith, the novel is based on the key moments and life adventures of John Muir and is intended to help children develop a deeper understanding and awareness of the natural environment and the importance of protecting wild places.
Download free PDF from Scottish Book Trust.

Gallogyly, Ethan, The Trail: a novel; illustrations by Jeremy Ashcroft (Sierra Nevada Press 2021).
Former Sierra Club outings leader Ethan Gallogly takes you on a wild tour across the Range of Light, describing its glorious scenery in vivid detail while introducing you to a diverse cast of characters drawn from his own personal experiences as a hiker. In this story, trail lore and philosophy is woven together, as 20-something Gil gets talked into accompanying his deceased father's best friend Syd on a month-long hike on the John Muir Trail. But Gil hates camping, and learns that Syd may not survive the hike due to cancer. But along the trail, Gil experiences the wilderness in ways he never expected, and receives insightful accounts of history and ecology from Syd. As they hike, Syd tells Gil the story of John Muir's life and how the trail was later established as a memorial to him. As the unlikely pair continue on their journey, alternately taking in the beauty of the mountains and discussing its human and geological history, Gil begins to learn how wilderness provides peace and healing. The story if enlivened by encounters with a set diverse "characters" from the past and present who have roamed the mountains along the John Muir Trail. This fictional story is accompanied by somce 43 true-to-life maps and sketches by acclaimed mountain illustrator Jeremy Ashcroft, showing the topography of each section along the trail. In various end-notes, the author explains how the story is based on his own experiences of hiking, on the John Muir Trail and other Sierra trails, and provides an extensive timeline of historical events surrounding the John Muir Trail, concluding with an extensive section for further Recommended Reading.

Highland, Chris, Jesus and John Muir: A Wilderness Novel (Amazon Kindle/CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2011)
Written by a retired Interfaith chaplain and freethinker, this novella tells the story of a young radical who climbs a mountain in Judea and meets a strange man from a far away land - none other than John Muir. Their brief adventure in the great classroom and sanctuary of Nature prepares the way for The Storyteller and his revolutionary band of misfit insurgents.

McCarthy, Gary, Yosemite (New York: Kensington Publishing Corp., 1995) Paperback.
An epic story, this 1995 novel tells the story of Yosemite, from 1800 through 1903, primarily through fictional Indians, pioneers, mountain men and portrayals of the non-fictional John Muir and President Theodore Roosevelt.

Robinson, Kim Stanley, "Muir on Shasta," in The Best of Kim Stanley Robinson (Night Shade Books, 2010).
This short story is an imaginative re-telling of the perilous night that John Muir and his guide spent on Mount Shasta, on April 30, 1875, which they survived only by rolling in the scalding mud of the "hot springs" near the top of this volcanic mountain. In Muir's true story, his companion was Jerome Fay; in Robinson's re-telling, his companion was named Jerome Bixby. The story was originally published in Author's Choice Monthly #20: A Senstive Dependence on Initial Conditions (1990).

Randall, John, Jonathan's Song (Amazon Kindle/CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2014)
A pass-the-torch historical novel tracking two characters in two different time periods - young Lionel Johnson, who seizes the opportunity to join the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933; and modern-day Kathryn O'Neill, a spoiled college student who runs away from home only to find salvation in the current-day California Conservation Corps. Both experience life-changing young adult angst, and have to learn to work with others who are very different from them; both inspired by the High Sierra wilderness of California. The characters periodically hear "voices" in their heads, which turn out to be communications from long-dead John Muir and Gifford Pinchot, who pass along their conservation ideals to these two young protagonists.

Wilcox, David Matthew, Roosevelt,Muir,Clio and Me: A Novel of Loss and Discovery (Dog Ear Publishing, LLC, 2014)
A historical novel written by a community college history professor, set up as a a quixotic adventure to hunt down a lost journal of President Theodore Roosevelt. Presumably written during his four-day stay with the naturalist and environmental icon John Muir in and around the Yosemite Valley in May of 1903, the journal might actually exist or may be a figment of the wishful imaginings of the protagonist, Professor Dash. He and his 20-year old daughter (who is something of a handful), embark on a cross-country journey in the attempt to track down the presumed missing journal. The author uses the events in the story to create a context in which to write about our twentieth-century history, especially the environmental portion of the Progressive Era. This is done through the use of dialogue, with Winston usually playing the teacher and Clio sometimes willingly, sometimes not, acting as his student. Their road trip together in their old family van, allows much of this historical banter to take place. But there is more involved in the story than that - the two embark on their journey largely estranged from the other because of the death of Winston's wife and Clio's mother, both suffering their loss, but they meet fascinating people along the way in Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., New York, and California's John Muir National Historic Site and Yosemite National Park.

Woolen, Ian, Muir Woods Or Bust (Coffeetown Press (July 16, 2017)
This novel is about two concurrent "road trips" which intertwine. as quests for conflicting goals for each character. Muir is quoted extensively, while also reflecting on his temporary blindness in an industrial accident while he lived in Indianapolis, Indiana. The main protagonists are Gil Moss, PhD, LMFT, LMHC, a marriage and family therapist, who is the coiner of a new diagnosis: Eco Mood Disorder, who attempted to write a novel about John Muir but lost his manuscript on his computer. One of his ex-patients, washed-up actor Doyle Wentworth, forces him at gunpoint to travel west on an odyssey to audition in Ventura, California, for a re-make of an anti-environmental TV show called Yosemite Yahoos, which made fun of John Muir to score points for the oil industry. Moss's hallucinations of his deceased wife give way during this road trip to his reflections about John Muir and his wish to re-unite with his adult son. Meanwhile, his son, Chum, a video game designer, meets a girl, Gil's former student Amanda, who takes him to Marin County in an attempt to market a video-game which would ostensibly cure video game addiction and perhaps malady's like the "Eco-Mood Disorder." Chum keeps writing the video game during the road trip, at least in his mind. A jumbled mess of a book, things keep changing often enough to keep you reading.

Yelverton, Thérèse, Zanita: A Tale of the Yo-Semite (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1991) Originally published in 1872 by Hurd & Houghton, New York. Preface by Kate Reed, Introduction by Margaret Sanborn.
This novel's chief interest lies in the fact that the author, coming to Yosemite Valley and living there for a season in the spring of 1870, appropriated the inhabitants as characters of her tale. The hero of the novel is John Muir himself - under the name of Kenmuir. Zanita is only a thin disguise for Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Hutchings' daughter Florence (Floy). Much of the writing is excruciatingly florid, but the quotes attributed to Muir seem to have actually been things Muir said or might have said. This book, Zanita: A Tale of the Yo-Semite, is availble on archive.org.

Home | Alphabetical Index | What's New & About this Site