Scan barcode
zombiezami's review
emotional
reflective
2.75
I count this book as one of the influences that led me to have environmentalist values from a young age. I remember having an Earth Day party in first or second grade, possibly having gotten the idea from Highlights Magazine or some similar source. Even so, I think I only read a few of the stories as a kid, mostly opting to look at the pictures, many of which are quite lovely.
Reading it this year was probably my one and only time reading it all the way through, and boy, was it a journey. I get that our understandings of environmental science and conservation have changed a lot in the almost 30 years since this has been published, but I find it hard to believe that many of these pieces were written by adults, including acclaimed children's authors.
In spite of the human diversity shown throughout the illustrations, all 28 authors, as far as I can tell, are white. While I could definitely feel the reverence that these authors had for our Earth, there were also quite a lot of oversights, such as perpetuating the noble savage myth and stating that Central Park was built on land where "the only people living there were bands of squatters whose shanties clustered under the shelter of barren rocks." In reality, the construction of Central Park actively displaced Seneca Village, a free Black community and a stop on the Underground Railroad. I don't know if this fact was hard to research about in 1993, but even if it was, presenting that land as if it was barren and ready for the taking is, at best, textbook settler colonialism.
As I was going through each piece in the anthology, I was thinking, surely this was written by children. I get that it's important to simplify big concepts like environmentalism so that children can understand and relate, but some of the simplification goes so far as to promote irresponsible messages, such as that people who pollute just do so because the like it and that people just have a lot of children for basically no reason.
I think this book could be a good conversation started with a child about how our understandings of environmental protection have changed over the years. As I said above, there are some truly lovely illustrations and photographs throughout, and the book shines best where people are talking about their reverence for different animals and landscapes and such. I'm sad I can't get the same joy I got from reading this as a kid, when I was unaware of a lot of the social and political contexts that are implicit in this book, but not named. But of course, that's just part of growing up.
Reading it this year was probably my one and only time reading it all the way through, and boy, was it a journey. I get that our understandings of environmental science and conservation have changed a lot in the almost 30 years since this has been published, but I find it hard to believe that many of these pieces were written by adults, including acclaimed children's authors.
In spite of the human diversity shown throughout the illustrations, all 28 authors, as far as I can tell, are white. While I could definitely feel the reverence that these authors had for our Earth, there were also quite a lot of oversights, such as perpetuating the noble savage myth and stating that Central Park was built on land where "the only people living there were bands of squatters whose shanties clustered under the shelter of barren rocks." In reality, the construction of Central Park actively displaced Seneca Village, a free Black community and a stop on the Underground Railroad. I don't know if this fact was hard to research about in 1993, but even if it was, presenting that land as if it was barren and ready for the taking is, at best, textbook settler colonialism.
As I was going through each piece in the anthology, I was thinking, surely this was written by children. I get that it's important to simplify big concepts like environmentalism so that children can understand and relate, but some of the simplification goes so far as to promote irresponsible messages, such as that people who pollute just do so because the like it and that people just have a lot of children for basically no reason.
I think this book could be a good conversation started with a child about how our understandings of environmental protection have changed over the years. As I said above, there are some truly lovely illustrations and photographs throughout, and the book shines best where people are talking about their reverence for different animals and landscapes and such. I'm sad I can't get the same joy I got from reading this as a kid, when I was unaware of a lot of the social and political contexts that are implicit in this book, but not named. But of course, that's just part of growing up.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty
Minor: Colonisation
gentrification, environmental disaster
More...