Book #16 - Rachel: The Story of Rachel Carson

"Her name was Rachel, and she was curious and wondering."

Title: Rachel: The Story of Rachel Carson

Author: Amy Ehrlich

Illustrator: Wendell Minor

Publisher: Harcourt

Date of Publication: 2003

Genre: Biography

Readability Lexile: 930L

Summary:
This book tells of the life and accomplishments of Rachel Carson. The story starts with her childhood and shows that from the beginning of her life she had a love and a deep connection with nature and the world. As she grows older she begins to educate herself about the natural world and to collect and learn from many specimens. 

Later in her life a friend tells her about how many animals were killed off after a plane flew over the area in which she was living dropping pesticides to kill mosquitoes. Rachel went to work attempting to understand why and how this was happening. After learning that the poison was also harming farm animals and effecting humans she began to write her most famous book, Silent Spring. 

This book took her 4 years to complete and told the world about the effects of DDT, a dangerous chemical. Though many people and companies attacked her for speaking up against pesticide companies, others believed her and wanted to help her cause. It is generally agreed that today’s environmental movement is due to Carson’s Silent Spring. 

Evaluation:

Overall, I think this book would be a great book to use when talking about environmental causes and organizations.I think this would be a nice introduction to an environmental causes unit and to Rachel Carson, as her books may not be suitable for young readers. The facts presented are accurate but the author also adds a story-like element to this biography which will make it more relevant for students. The author doesn't use any offensive, degrading, or stereotypical language or illustrations in this book.

Literary Elements:

1. Theme: This book shows that anyone can educate themselves and stand up for something that they believe to have a negative affect on the world. Rachel Carson truly did have a unique connection with nature. The author writes, “Rachel, who loved the world so much, was frightened and angry. How could people cause it so much harm? Didn’t they see that everything was connected in an intricate web of life?”, after she learned about the affects of DDT. By reading this book, it may inspire students to create a connection with nature as Rachel had growing up and throughout her life.

This book also talks about how many people did not believe Rachel Carson’s findings and research because she was a woman. One passage from the book, “...and they attacked Rachel, too. She was only a woman, after all, emotional and unreliable”, shows the author’s use of sarcasm to get her point across on how absurd this idea actually was.  Therefore, book can also teach others that anyone, man or woman, can change the world for the better.

2. Timeline: This story is in the form of a timeline. Each page highlights a different time in Rachel's life. This helps to make this biography easier to understand and to split her life into manageable sections because she has done so much. 

3. Conflict: The author of this story shows the tension between Rachel and the chemical companies by explaining both sides of their stories and also explaining what Rachel did to counteract the company's false statements.

Illustrations:

The pictures in this book are very realistic, some of them almost look like photographs of Rachel herself. They show Rachel as a child, young woman, and old woman. There are also many nature drawings that help to support the text and show the reader why Rachel was so passionate about the beautiful world around her. 

Mini-Lesson Idea: 

I would use this book to teacher environmentalism and compassion for the natural world like Rachel had. I would read this book aloud and then have students research environmental issues going on in the world today. Then we work on writing persuasive text and talk about ways to make other feel the same on as issue. Eventually we would create a persuasive paper about an environmental issue.