From School Library Journal
Gr 4-8-In Silent Spring (Buccaneer, 1994), Carson imagined a world in which no birds sang, and, through the power of her pen and her scientific understanding, changed the world so that that would not happen. The straightforward prose in this biography, illustrated with familiar black-and-white photographs, covers the details of the subject's childhood near Pittsburgh, PA, through her working years in Washington and summers in Maine, to literary success and controversy, and her untimely death. Career information, what biologists and writers do, and a short suggested list of places for further research into the fields is appended. Curiously, neither the chronology of Carson's life nor the list for further reading mentions The Sense of Wonder (HarperCollins, 1998), the book children would have most likely encountered, lavishly illustrated, as it is, with photographs of her young nephew Roger. Stewart does not cite her sources, though she often describes Carson's feelings: she was "embarrassed" by her family's financial situation, she was "thrilled" to have a chance to write a book, she was "still searching for someone who could understand her as a person and as a writer." The current Library of Congress catalog lists 24 juvenile biographies of Carson, at least 10 of which are in print and available. The limited career information appended to this title is not sufficient reason for a library to invest in this new one.
Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
