Walden Then & Now: An Alphabetical Tour of Henry Thoreau's Pond - Hardcover

McCurdy, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1580892531 ISBN 13: 9781580892537

Publisher: Charlesbridge, 2010

Synopsis

"I hear a song sparrow singing from the bushes on the shore."
--Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Henry David Thoreau was an author and naturalist whose book WALDEN still inspires readers today. In it Thoreau documented his experience living in a cabin on Walden Pond, reflecting on the beauty of nature and Mother Earth. Much of his writing, including WALDEN, propelled the environmental movement that exists today.

Over one hundred and fifty years later, Michael McCurdy pays tribute to this influential figure and the historic place that inspired Thoreau during his lifetime. In WALDEN THEN & NOW, readers take an alphabetical journey around Walden Pond. McCurdy explores Thoreau’s simple life in his cabin surrounded by nature, and highlights what has changed and what has stayed the same from Thoreau’s time to our own. Readers discover the animals, plants, seasons, and thoughts that Thoreau recorded during his life on the pond as they gain an appreciation for nature and environmentalism.

McCurdy’s beautiful wood engravings illustrate this celebration of the joy, solitude, and drama of the natural life of Walden Pond—then and now.

About this title

About the Author:

Michael McCurdy is the author/illustrator of AN ALGONQUIAN YEAR (Houghton Mifflin) and THE SAILOR'S ALPHABET (Houghton Mifflin), and the illustrator of THE FOUNDERS: THE 39 STORIES BEHIND THE CONSTITUTION (Walker) and THE TRAIN THEY CALL THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS (Putnam), among many other books. He lives in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Review:

*Starred Review* This elegant alphabet book brilliantly conveys the essence of 19th-century American author, naturalist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau's solitary sojourn at Walden Pond. For each letter of the alphabet, McCurdy selects an item symbolizing Henry's simple, secluded Walden world, including an anecdotal paragraph explaining how each fits into the Walden idyll, often with comparisons to Walden Pond as it is now. From "A" for the angry ants whose battles Henry described in Walden to "Z" for the zephyrs cooling the pond on summer nights, the alphabetical selections give readers a unique peek at Henry and the natural world he immortalized. Each page opens with the featured letter in crisp, black type on thick, creamy stock. Rustic, realistic black-and-white wood engravings echo Henry's credo to simplify and feature him reading, plowing his bean field, building his cabin, playing his flute, chopping wood, roaming winter woods, cutting ice and staring at the stars in complete harmony with nature. An unusual yet entirely appropriate introduction to the famed hermit and the other residents of Walden Pond. --Kirkus Reviews

Elegiac woodcarvings evoke the setting of Henry Thoreau's Walden Pond as the text weaves past and present in this lengthy alphabet poem. On each spread, consecutive letters face one another, making a couplet of the lines. A dark, but not somber, woodcarving illustrates each letter, and an explanatory paragraph expands upon the information in the verse. Some letters describe an emotion, e.g., "J is for the joy he felt at being all alone," while the text links the comment to the present (since nearly 600,000 people visit Walden Pond each year, it would be hard to be alone there today). Other letters describe the writer's activities: "C is for the cabin Henry built with his own hands", or insects or animals, "G is for returning geese that made his spirits soar." Differences between a New England life in the 1840s and 1850s and today are explained. The book ends with entries from Thoreau's diary and McCurdy's inspiration and starting point for this book. Purchase as an introduction to Thoreau and for poetry shelves. --School Library Journal

About this edition

• Publisher: Charlesbridge
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1580892531
• ISBN 13: 9781580892537
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: McCurdy Michael