a river ran wild an environmental history

The colorless account of the citizens' battle to clean up the river, for example, reflects little of the passions and energy involved.

While this book provides a solid history, it does little to bring the issues or pivotal figures to life. She delivers this message with a heavier hand than she used in The Great Kapok Tree her writing is more complex and ponderous, and less accessible and inviting, than in the earlier work. All in all, an excellent picture-book examination of the the history of one river, one which offers some sobering facts, but also some inspirational figures! I think I need to learn more about Marion Stoddart.'An important, intelligently presented story.'-Kirkus Reviews 'Readers will be moved to consider their personal impact on the environment and what they can do to make a difference.'-Booklist 'An important contribution to literature.'-School Library Journal, Cherry traces the ecological evolution of New England's Nashua River-how it was respected by generations of Indians, polluted and ultimately deadened in the wake of the industrial revolution and restored in recent years through the efforts of concerned citizens. The artwork is lovely, and I enjoyed looking at both the larger paintings on each two-page spread, and the decorative borders, with the many animals and items mentioned (or hinted at) in the narrative. I appreciated the contrast drawn between the Native American way of interacting with the natural world, and the European (and then Euro-American) way - complementary versus adversarial - as I think this clarifies why environmental degradation was allowed to take hold, and to continue for so long in this country. Until, that is, the 1960s, when an activist named Marion Stoddart decided she had to do something.Ĭhosen as one of our September selections over in The Picture-Book Club to which I belong, where our theme this month is 'ecosystems,' A River Ran Wild is part history, part science, and all parts engaging. Show More pebbles on the river-bed could be seen from above, thus explaining its original native name, the Nash-a-Way, or 'River With the Pebbled Bottom' - through its first harnessing (in order to power mills) during colonial times, and then its use as a dumping ground for waste during the Industrial Revolution, Cherry charts a trajectory that leads ever downward.

A river ran wild an environmental history