Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 4-7. Wilderness adventure is an essential part of this big, handsome picture-book biography of a pioneer environmentalist who was entranced by storms as much as by the small things in the wild places he cherished. Lasky's clear prose quotes liberally from diary entries Muir recorded as he walked from Wisconsin to the Gulf Coast of Florida in 1867, tracked glaciers in Alaska in 1870, and later served as guide to the famous, including President Theodore Roosevelt, who founded Yosemite National Park. True to Muir's vision, Fellows' spacious double-page watercolors show the beauty of the wide landscapes in storm and sunshine as well as the tiny details in a single meadow. Back matter includes a bibliography of Muir's quotes and a note about the work of the Sierra Club, which Muir founded in 1892. A good starting place for science and biography projects, this book will also appeal to young activists with its message about people needing beauty as well as bread. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-4-Lasky's picture-book sketch of the naturalist's life focuses on Muir's special love of California's snowy Sierras and Yosemite Valley and his successes in founding Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Club. The author recounts aspects of Muir's boyhood years in Scotland and teens in Wisconsin to introduce his personality and interests, and the brief account of his accomplishments closes with the often-told story of his Alaskan adventure with his dog Stickeen in 1870 and a page on the 1890 legislation to establish Yosemite as a park. The epilogue summarizes his achievements and later years without indicating how long he actually lived. Fellows's acrylic paintings, sometimes full page and often wrapping around the text, provide pleasant impressions of the man and the impressive landscape. This is a useful introduction to Muir, the founding of the national parks, and the broader idea of environmentalism. A final page describes the work of the Sierra Club.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Intermediate) Not only did John Muir do ""more to help preserve the American wilderness than any other individual in the country's history,"" he also believed that nature, with its creatures, land formations, and plants, represented ""the inventions of God."" It is that reverence for the natural world, and the drive to preserve it, that Lasky captures so well as she traces Muir's life, from a young boy's wonder to an old man's passion, in this lavishly illustrated biography presented in seven brief and logically divided chapters. As readers move with Muir from Scotland to Wisconsin, Canada, Florida, California, and Alaska, Fellows's double-page landscapes create sparkling settings, while his small insets of flora and fauna simulate the intimacy of a personal travel diary. An epilogue, bibliography, and author's note about the Sierra Club complete the book. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
In this double-stranded tribute to Muir, who was a driving force behind the creation of the National Parks system, a founder of the Sierra Club and a brilliant inventor too, Lasky not only outlines the course of his life, but eloquently conveys his motivation--a profound delight in what he called "wildness" in the natural world. Fellows places him, as is only appropriate considering that he spent most of his life outdoors, in a variety of wide-open, rugged settings. Though there are several recent profiles of Muir for younger audiences, children will come away from this one with particular admiration for the spirit of a man who "found temples of light in mountain valleys, a song in the water of a stream, a symphony in a storm-tossed tree, and snow flowers in a blizzard." (bibliography) (Picture book/biography. 7-9) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
