*Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World by Laurie Lawlor (2012) is a must read. From humble beginnings, Rachel Carson’s work ethic earned her full scholarships for college and graduate school. When the culture denied work to women, Carson continued to research and write about the environment. After finally getting work with the Bureau of Fisheries, her writing was so good that her supervisor told her to send it to the Atlantic magazine. Her subsequent writing projects were again stymied by the times. Nevertheless, she worked as a brave biologist for 15 years. She noticed a disturbing trend human destruction of the environment.
In 1951 she published The Sea Around Us. Next came The Edge of the Sea (1955). While battling breast cancer, Rachel Carson took four years to write Silent Spring, which was published in 1962. The Epilogue at the end of the book is both sobering and encouraging. Silent Spring provoked a firestorm. “The chemical industry and several government agencies mounted a vicious, well-funded campaign against Silent Spring...” and Rachel Carson herself. The book was a best seller and inspired grassroots environmental groups to push for federal protections for the environment. In 1972, DDT was banned.
Source notes fill the final page.
May this picture book fill children with confidence as they continue a fight to save the earth.
