Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World

Gr 2–4—As she did with Helen Keller: Rebellious Spirit (Holiday House, 2001), Lawlor has presented a concise and lively picture of her subject. Using language heavy with imagery ("Her camera captured four eggs, mottle white and brown, precious as shining fruit"), she discusses Carson's early years, including her innate love of nature and her early desire to become a writer. She describes Carson's struggles to support her frequently impoverished family as well as her fight to carve a place for herself at a time when women scientists were scoffed at. The controversy and impact of the publication of Silent Spring are not dealt with extensively in the main text as it ends with Carson's premature death at age 56, but a detailed epilogue supplies the needed information. Source notes reveal Lawlor's extensive research and the respect she has for her subject. Beingessner's tempera and ink illustrations do a fine job of capturing the natural world that Carson loved so much. For a slightly younger audience than Joseph Bruchac's Rachel Carson: Preserving a Sense of Wonder (Fulcrum, 2004), this book is a worthy introduction to a woman whose work still influences environmental decisions today.—Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ