Friends of the Earth

February 15, 2013
Brief biographies of early conservationists and environmentalists provide a look at the development of the movement. Readers meet John James Audubon, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Roger Tory Peterson and Rachel Carson, as well as less familiar names: Cordelia Stanwood, Gifford Pinchot, Aldo Leopold, Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Margaret "Mardy" Murie. Each featurette is about six to eight pages long, offering enough detail to provide a flavor of the people's lives and explain their significance to the movement. Each chapter includes one or more activities (mostly simple science experiments) themed to match the biography--not always successfully. The activity for the Muir chapter is to bake oatmeal scones, which seems strange when compared to others: bird identification, making a plaster cast of an animal footprint or a bird feeder, etc. The last section describes future challenges. The text is mostly written in short sentences that don't jibe with the more complex content and may sometimes perplex readers: "For years, we've heard the cry, 'Save the rainforest!' This is another side of deforestation." This effort offers an odd mix of complexity and oversimplification: "The rate of global warming can be slowed if people will take a few simple steps"--carpooling, using public transit, eschewing motorized transportation and limiting trips. More useful for the biographies than the environmental information. An only-serviceable collective biography for those interested in the history of the movement. (Collective biography. 10-13)

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April 1, 2013

Gr 4-8-McCarthy profiles 10 individuals, all born prior to 1910. The chapters are arranged chronologically, highlighting individuals such as Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, Aldo Leopold, Cordelia Stanwood, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Margaret Murie, and Rachel Carson. In addition to biographical information, each chapter features corresponding hands-on activities. For example, the section devoted to John James Audubon provides directions for building a nest and constructing a birdhouse. Black-and-white photographs provide interesting visuals that illustrate each individual's story. The writing is lively and clear, and the text is appropriate for both research and pleasure reading. Budding environmentalists will appreciate these accessible and inspiring biographies.-Lindsay Cesari, Baldwinsville School District, NY

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2013
Grades 4-7 Though far short of a comprehensive history of American environmentalism, these 10 profiles of American naturalists and environmental activists do offer a broad overview of the movement's past highlights, if not so much of its present state. Supplemented by photos, sidebars, resource lists, and a quick closing survey of current environmental issues, McCarthy presents an unusually mixed bag. Along with such usual suspects as Thoreau, Muir, and Carson, there are profiles of lesser-known figures like Everglades champion Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Gifford Pinchot, our country's first professionally trained forester. Typical of this publisher's series, the 21 interspersed activities range widely in quality, but along with an irrelevant recipe for scones (because, you know, John Muir was born in Scotland) and a soda-bottle bird feeder that would leave much of its contents tantalizingly out of reach, there are directions for an excellent one-square-yard biocensus among a few others that may reward the effort. Consider this as supplementary support for eco-assignments.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)