Joe & Me

Every lover of the outdoors will cherish this journal about a young man and the mentor who opens his heart to the spirit of nature -- from the celebrated twenty-two-year-old author of Trout: An Illustrated History.
When James Prosek was just fifteen, a ranger named Joe Haines caught him fishing without a permit in a stream near his home in Connecticut. But instead of taking off into the pouring rain like his fishing buddy, James put down his rod and surrendered. It was a move that would change his life forever. Expecting a small fine and a lecture, James instead received enough knowledge about fishing and the great outdoors to last a lifetime.

The story of this unlikely friendship between two men--one old, one young--Joe and Me is brimming with both the enthusiasm of youth and the wisdom of experience. As Joe passes on his affection for nature to his eager young student, James's reflections are, in turn, intimate and expansive, inspirational and full of wonder.

With twenty rugged and richly colorful illustrations in the style that first brought James critical acclaim, and graceful prose that belies an insightfulness far beyond his years, Joe and Me is a one-of-a-kind journal by a talent The New York Times has dubbed "a fair bid to become the Audubon of the fishing world."

REVIEWS:
"[Joe and Me is] about what it means to be tried-and-true; about generosity, responsibility, humor, curiosity, appreciation; about having a warm heart and doing the right thing... Prosek describes for us a lost world of sportsfolk--relaxed, comradely, reflective, perceptive--from which he wisely decides to take his cues. " --Kirkus Reviews

"Mr. Prosek makes art of that friendship with Joe Haines in a charming memoir... In it he shows that he can paint with language as simply and refreshingly as he does with watercolors." --New York Times, 7/7/97

"This is a book without writerly tricks. Held in your hand it begins to feel like something from another era: Gentle, solid, uplifting and just a little sentimental... This book is a tribute to the binder's art. It is finely crafted, with an inlay cover and no dust jacket, and illustrated with 20 of Prosek's splendidly evocative paintings. The paper is heavy, thick, as if to acknowledge that fathers will be passing this along to their sons in tribute to a stylized America that always seems on the verge of disappearing." --Los Angeles Times, 6/8/97

"Prosek is a writer at once artful and natural, an original in literature even as he is in painting. Joe and Me incarnates again the values of Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Altogether, a beautiful and radiant book, a book for everyone. " --Harold Bloom

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
James Prosek is the author of Trout and Joe and Me. He is a graduate of Yale and lives in Easton Connecticut. In preparation for his next book, he is currently fishing the 41st parrallel--a