Language: G (0 swears 0'f'); Mature Content: G; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SOME
Rachel Carson was always interested in nature. She loved the forest outside her home near Pittsburgh and worried about the effects of the pollution the coal mines were causing on the ecology. She also loved writing, as a young girl, she sold several stories to St. Nick magazine, and helped support her family in the 1920s. Attending college, she planned to be a writer, but being introduced to the study of biology, Rachel realized she could make a difference, but many factors including the fact that she was a woman would come into play as she tried to follow a career in science.
Ann E. Burg's novel in verse is wonderful. I was immediately immersed in Rachel's story. I loved that she spent a lot of time with Rachel as a child - this will certainly invest the middle school readers in both her causes and her life. Sophie Blackall's illustrations are great - like they were carefully drawn in a scientific notebook. I loved the - were you paying attention and can you identify these things - at the end of the book. While not exactly non-fiction as Burg has combined characters, changed some names and there aren't the typical end materials like a bibliography or links to other sources, I think Force of Nature will be a great historical fiction about a real person and readers will want to find out more. Rachel is white.
Lisa Librarian
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