 | Of words and water : the story of Wilma Dykeman writer, historian, environmentalist Author: Hitchcock, Shannon | |
| Price: $8.16 | ||
Summary:
This lyrical picture book biography of writer and environmentalist Wilma Dykeman traces how her love for a local river led to her efforts to protect it and the livelihood of those who depended on it. Throughout her life she taught that water is the irreplaceable gift; it is life.
| Illustrator: | Page, Sophie |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (03/01/24)
Booklist (03/01/24)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 03/01/2024 In lines that curve and flow like the river her subject championed, Hitchcock honors a writer and environmentalist who wrote of the alarming impact that commercial pollution of the French Broad River in North Carolina and Tennessee was having on both nature and on local residents’ lives. As the author notes, her concerns preceded and were echoed in Rachel Carson’s later Silent Spring and so helped spur the modern environmental movement: “Water,” Dykeman wrote, “is the irreplaceable gift. It is life. Use, Cherish, Celebrate, Preserve, Enjoy.” Created from assemblages of cut paper, small sculpted figures, and found natural items, Page’s eye-catching illustrations also flow, from depictions of a child growing up in the verdant Blue Ridge Mountains to, years later, boating down the river past factories and small frame houses, then sitting at a writing table to argue for clean, unspoiled waters and hills. The afterword only hints at some of the accomplishments in Dykeman’s long and distinguished career—she was involved in the civil rights movement, too—but ends with a URL where readers can find out more. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.
