Harriet's Ruffled Feathers
The Woman Who Saved Millions of Birds
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- £9.49
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- £9.49
Publisher Description
Meet the inspiring woman whose love of fashion led her to start a conservation movement and found the Massachusetts Audubon Society in this lively picture book biography.
Harriet Lawrence Hemenway loved hats. She loved them with ribbons and flowers, embroidery and pearls. And feathers! What was better than a hat with grand, glorious feathers? But then Harriet discovered that millions of birds died so that she and her friends could soar at the height of style. A passion for fashion was one thing, but this was feather-brained!
So Harriet led the charge to take feathers out of fashion, getting laws passed that made it illegal to buy or sell wild bird feathers. In 1896, she and her fellow bird protectors founded the Massachusetts Audubon Society, which grew into a national organization that still protects birds today! Additional information about conservation can be found in the backmatter of this engaging picture book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bird puns abound in this origin story of the National Audubon Society, focusing on the efforts of Boston socialite Harriet Lawrence Hemenway (1858–1960) to stop the killing of birds for hat plumes. Flying into action with cousin Minna, Hemenway first organized informative tea parties, then rallied "powerful, influential people" to form the Massachusetts Audubon Society, which quickly spread to other states. McCullough's prose maintains a playfully vintage flavor: "To think this bird should be deprived of its own finery for someone else's hat! A passion for fashion was one thing, but this was featherbrained!" Light-hued watercolors by Galotta combine delicate lines with simple figures of various skin tones, intricately rendered fashions, and near-realistic birds in this buoyant portrait of an early female conservationist. Back matter includes an author's note. Ages 4–8.
