Josephine is, of course, a literary device, in addition to being a flesh-and-blood child. Many of them could be anywhere in the world - pigeons, squirrels, ginkgo trees, turkey vultures, crows, snails and weeds. But the cast of characters he encounters in the city is cosmopolitan. And he brings to the city that sense of place, which glories in detailed knowledge of plants, animals and natural history. Johnson grew up in the Sierra Nevada foothills - Gary Snyder territory - where, he writes, he knew the name of every tree around his house. He was also compelled by his own backstory. He wanted to be able to give Josephine more than one-word answers like “Tree.” When Josephine was 1, Johnson writes, she wouldn’t stop pointing and demanding to know what was “That?” Her one-word query set Johnson on a quest.
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