Book Review: Birds in the Morning, Frogs at Night by Iowan Author, Maureen McCue

By Christine Sheller 

Birds in the Morning, Frogs at Night- Sharing Life Along the Road  by Iowan author Maureen McCue is interesting and reflective, while being inspiring and motivating.  Maureen McCue is a physician practicing in Iowa City, a professor, and is an active member and Board Chair of PSR- Iowa (Physicians for Social Responsibility- Iowa).  This book was published in 2021.

McCue reflects on finding her home down a dirt road in the country outside of Iowa City.  She speaks of the animal and plant life which thrive on her acreage and along the road.  As it says in the Introduction, she moved to this farm on a rural road more than thirty years ago.  She has traveled extensively as a physician and professor of Global Health Studies. She shares some of this in portions of the book.

In Birds in the Morning, Frogs at Night, McCue reflects on changes in the environment she has observed at her home, and in travels.  She also shares about her family, specifically about her adopted son with autism and his interactions with the natural world he lived in growing up on the acreage.

McCue shares poems in each chapter, including poems by Wendell Berry, Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carroll, and Robert Frost.  The chapters build on one another, starting out with her decision to live in the country on a dirt road, weather dependent.  She has good neighbors, and she shares stories about that as well, as it relates to sharing a road.

McCue shares about her life before Iowa City, as well.  Her experiences in southern Illinois influenced her decision to move to Iowa in several ways.  She practiced medicine in Illinois before moving to Iowa.  Additionally, her experiences with minority populations shaped her. 

It is interesting to hear about her life with the natural world around her.  She gardens also, and harvests from the wild as well.  She shares about her son at a young age, and growing up, then in a later chapter reflects on his young adulthood and how he’s changed.  He later lives in a shared-home with peers in the city.  His trips out to the country shows how he has changed, but McCue noticed ways in which he still interacted with nature out on the farm.

McCue laments changes in the environment, and she reflects on the possibility of climate change affecting her home.  She continues, at the time of publication of this book, to live on this farm down a dirt road. 

I recommend this book to all.

Christine Sheller is editor and coordinator at Iowa Peace Network based in Des Moines, Iowa and rural Eldora, IA.