From a small town in Pennsylvania came a little girl who saw the magic in spring fog and heard the ocean’s song in her heart.
This was the girl who one day would become the groundbreaking author of Silent Spring.
Combining Thomas Locker’s majestic artwork with Joseph Bruchac’s poetic text, Rachel Carson offers an educational and inspiring account of her life.
Includes excerpts from Carson’s work and a timeline of major events. [Publisher’s description.]
In this engaging biography, now updated, young readers will experience the enchantment of nature as seen through the eyes of the budding naturalist, while learning about her childhood, her accomplishments, and her passion for nature.
ISBN: 9781555916954 | Fulcrum Group
 Fortieth anniversary edition of Rachel Carson’s watershed book with essays by Terry Tempest Williams and Carson biographer Linda Lear. |
 Rachel Carson, speaking before Senate Government Operations subcommittee studying pesticide spraying. Source: United Press International photo, 1963. Library of Congress. |
I read this book the year after I left school. Extraordinary memory. I grew up surrounded by farmers. The old ones all saved pockets of original rainforest. They liked the bird life. They recognised how those pockets controlled run-off when tropical storms became cyclonic deluges. The 1950s farmers were different. They over-stocked paddocks. My grandfather weeded by pulling weeds out of his 90+ acres, but his son sprayed and the weeds (camphor laurel) flourished – and the birdlife, platypus etc in the creeks suffered. So reading her book explained so much that i could see as part of an inter-generational argument. Like scales dropping off eyes.
For the benefit of readers, i grew up near Byron Bay, Australia. During the first half of last century, dairy farming was the main industry. Farming is more diverse now, including plantations with questionable habits.
This is still a Great Woman Theory of History interpretation. You might also see A People’s History of Environmentalism in the United States (Continuum, 2011), which puts working people at the center of the story.