• Age: 14 to 18
• Grade: 9 to 12

Blue Grama describes the intensity that is prairie life - people, plants and spaces - and the drive that sends us away and brings us back again to our roots. From conversations with a prairie bush to reflections on the lives of prairie people who populate the author's past, this visual treasure is an emotive ode to all things prairie. Equal to the writings (poetry, songs and one prose piece) are the author's own botanical illustrations, accompanied by field notes, which portray her delight in prairie details not often seen until you kneel amongst the grasses.

Heather Peat Hamm's profile page

Heather Peat Hamm is a prairie ecologist by training and prairie advocate at heart. Fifteen years in agricultural and ecological research left Heather with a keen observational bent and drawing skills honed at the microscope. She has studied ecology at universities of Saskatchewan, Toronto, and Alaska, Fairbanks and broadened her botanical illustrations skills through Cornell University. Heather is also a musician. She currently lives in Forget, Saskatchewan.

Blue Grama "is a slender volume chock full of drawings, poems and song lyrics. [Peat] Hamm is a ferocious advocate of the prairie in its natural state and stands up tall for the grasses...An essay at book's end called Northern Limits tells why she loves blue grama so, and it's something of a manifesto, written in love and full botanical knowledge, the little book itself summed up and put right."

- Bill Robertson, The Star Phoenix