The Poppy Lady
Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to Veterans
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- £8.49
Publisher Description
Here is the inspiring story behind the Veterans Day red poppy, a symbol that honors the service and sacrifices of our veterans.
When American soldiers entered World War I, Moina Belle Michael, a schoolteacher from Georgia, knew she had to act. Some of the soldiers were her students and friends. Almost single-handedly, Moina worked to establish the red poppy as the symbol to honor and remember soldiers. And she devoted the rest of her life to making sure the symbol would last forever. Thanks to her hard work, that symbol remains strong today. Author Barbara Elizabeth Walsh and artist Layne Johnson worked with experts, primary documents, and Moina's great-nieces to better understand Moina's determination to honor the war veterans.
A portion of the book's proceeds will support the National Military Family Association's Operation Purple®, which benefits children of the US Military.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Since WWI, red poppies have been used to commemorate fallen soldiers; Walsh explains why in a glowing tribute to the woman behind the symbol, Moina Belle Michael, a professor at the University of Georgia who "wanted to do more" for the men in uniform, and who went on to contribute to the war effort in several ways. Johnson's oil paintings offer several dramatically lit, almost beatific portraits of Michael, as well as one scene of a somber WWI battlefield, covered with red poppies and white crosses, the source of Michael's inspiration (along with John McCrae's poem "We Shall Not Sleep"). Ages 7 11.
