I Begin with Spring: The Life and Seasons of Henry David Thoreau
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- 6,49 €
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- 6,49 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
Horn Book Starred Review: An excellent introduction to Thoreau and the turbulent times in which he lived.
School Library Journal Starred Review: An engaging and inspiring biographical title for budding scientists, artists, and environmentalists.
Kirkus starred review: A marvelous life survey of a perennially relevant historical figure.
One of Kirkus' Most Anticipated Children's Book of 2022
"A must read." - Elizabeth Bird, A Fuse 8 Production
Formatted like a nature notebook, this exploration of seasonal changes in Thoreau’s day is also a visual story of his life and times and a gentle introduction to climate change.
I Begin with Spring weaves natural history around Thoreau’s life and times in a richly illustrated field notebook format that can be opened anywhere and invites browsing on every page. Beginning each season with quotes from Thoreau’s schoolboy essay about the changing seasons, Early Bloomer follows him through the fields and woods of Concord, the joys and challenges of growing up, his experiment with simple living on Walden Pond, and his participation in the abolition movement, self-reliance, science, and literature.
The book’s two organizing themes—the chronology of Thoreau’s life and the seasonal cycle beginning with spring—interact seamlessly on every spread, suggesting the correspondence of human seasons with nature’s. Thoreau’s annual records of blooms, bird migrations, and other natural events scroll in a timeline across the page bottoms, and the backmatter includes a summary of how those dates have changed from his day to ours and what that tells us about the science of phenology and climate change.
Megan Baratta’s watercolors are augmented with historical images and reproductions of Thoreau’s own sketches to create a high-interest visual experience. The book includes a foreword from Thoreau scholar Jeffrey Cramer, Curator of Collections for the Walden Woods Project.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The seasons and their variations provide a framework for this absorbing biography of Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862). Starting with Thoreau's springtime forest rambles in Concord, Mass., Dunlap chronicles the figure's youthful forays into natural history, going on to note major milestones in the seasons of his life, including his famous move to Walden Pond ("the perfect spot to talk with friends about transcendentalism") and his accomplishments as a writer, naturalist, and lecturer. Well-chosen quotes from the naturalist's writing are woven throughout the narrative text, including excerpts from his childhood essay "The Seasons." Scattered across each page, Barrata's delicate sketches of flora and fauna are captioned with notes for a nature journal effect, and a timeline of monthly observations appears as a running footer. Dunlap provides useful scientific and historical context, touching on industrialization, politics, and slavery in this richly detailed field guide to Thoreau that offers older readers ample inspiration for outdoor exploration. Back matter includes further resources, notes on climate change, and instructions for creating a nature calendar. Ages 9–12.