Friday, January 15, 2021

Fact Friday: Rachel Carson and Ecology for Kids: her life and ideas, with 21 activities and experiments by Rowena Rae

Rachel Carson and Ecology for Kids: her life and ideas, with 21 activities and experiments by Rowena Rae. 144 p. Chicago Review Press, February, 2020. (Review of e-book borrowed from public library.)


Happy Friday! We made it through another week! My students have a long weekend to look forward to. We teachers have a PD day on Monday.

Fact Friday features Rachel Carson and Ecology for Kids: her life and ideas with 21 activities and experiments by Rowena Rae. Rachel Carson was born in 1907 and was intensely curious about nature from her early years. Not only did she attend college when few women did, but she also studied science, specifically biology, which even fewer women did. She wrote eloquently about science and nature as well. Her intense observation and study of the natural world led her to the conclusion that pesticide use was adversely affecting animal life and the environment. She began to speak out against the use of pesticides in the 1950s and the 1962 publication of her book, Silent Spring, awakened the general public to these dangers to our environment.

This dual-use biography has activities and experiments that budding environmentalists can try. Although these activities were interesting - things like making bird seed cookies and building a worm farm, I found them intrusive to the flow of the narrative and would've preferred them to be grouped in a separate section, especially as they didn't directly connect to the text. There are plenty of photos to maintain interest and the back matter includes a timeline and glossary.

This biography serves as a fine introduction to the life and work of Rachel Carson.

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