Review by Booklist Review
This beautifully illustrated nonfiction in verse picture book invites young readers to dive deep into the plight of the brown pelican, endangered by the pesticide DDT in the 1950s. As the bird's population dwindles, a diverse team of scientists investigates the bioaccumulation of chemicals in the food web caused by DDT. Stremer delicately narrates this complex situation, making it accessible to even the youngest readers. The story highlights how scientists challenged chemical manufacturers, farmers, and the government, ultimately leading to the creation of the Endangered Species Act. This timeless message encourages young readers and activists to understand the history of the environmental movement and empowers them to "use their voice / louder / and / louder / to stand up, / speak out, / and inspire change." The back matter provides additional information on DDT, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, the origins of the environmental movement, the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Endangered Species Act, along with facts, a glossary, bibliography, and index.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The midcentury "plight of the pelican" provides a window into how the scientific process was used to discover the dangers of DDT in this hopeful picture book. When avian populations begin to plummet in the 1950s, "Scientists noticed./ And they worried." Identifying fragile eggshells as the problem, researchers trace the cause to DDT, and one unnamed figure (identifiable as Rachel Carson), rallies the public. Repetition builds as the narrative recounts how "the number of birds continued to drop/ lower/ and/ lower/ while people/ demanding change grew/ louder/ and/ louder," until the chemical is ruled a hazard. Layers of color enliven Wright's artwork, which shifts from faithfully rendered images of pelicans to conventional depictions of farmland, protests, and more. Concluding verse effectively amplifies Stremer's message about the importance of science as a vehicle for positive change. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Includes contextualizing back matter. Ages 5--8. (Apr.)
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Review by Horn Book Review
The partnership between Stremer's expressive and suspenseful text and Wright's evocative hand-painted gouache, ink, and acrylic illustrations (see Great Carrier Reef, rev. 7/23) gives readers an exceptionally clear picture of the discovery and correction of one historical threat to wildlife: the use of DDT on crops. The text on the opening spread is positioned like a projectile moving across the page in concert with a brown pelican pod flying together, which plunges as the birds dive for fish. Readers then discover a problem that scientists noticed in the 1950s: fewer and fewer pelicans being born. The text asks: why? Scientists find that the birds' eggshells have become so fragile they cannot support the parents' weight in the nest. Again, the same question: why? And again, scientists search to find the answer, eventually theorizing that DDT contaminates the food chain, leading to weakened shells. They test this hypothesis, and even though they find strong evidence of the link, these findings are rejected by farmers, the companies that produce DDT, and the government. But public protest drowns out these voices, and the use of DDT is finally eliminated. The book concludes with other concerns that threaten wildlife today. Extensive back matter offers further detail (including spelling out Rachel Carson's role in sounding the alarm about DDT), additional brown pelican facts, a glossary, a bibliography, and an index. Betty CarterMarch/April 2025 p.102 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A lyrical tribute to the scientists who solved an ecological mystery and spurred efforts to save many species from extinction. In a spare narrative made up of free verse and reading like a detective story, Stremer describes the way declining populations of brown pelicans led concerned researchers to discover how the common pesticide DDT passed up food chains and weakened eggshells, to devastating effect. Only after the rising waves of public protest that ensued after one scientist "wrote a book / about springs / when songbirds would no longer sing" were officials forced to legislate efforts to ban the substance and protect vanishing species. It still took nearly 37 years for the pelicans to recover their numbers, Stremer continues--and even now they and many other threatened species are still in dire need of "people just like you" to "stand up, / speak out, / and inspire change." Readers will be further engaged in the cause by Wright's flowing scenes of ungainly pelicans diving and nesting, light- and dark-skinned scientists in lab coats and equally diverse marchers waving banners, and a wildlife crossing built over a busy roadway providing safe passage. For those in need of a little more solid information, she identifies some significant environmental laws (along with that anonymous "scientist" writer, who is, of course, Rachel Carson) in the backmatter, which includes more facts about pelicans, the specific effects of DDT, and the environmental movement's rise. A scientific success story, with a cogent reminder that work remains to be done. (glossary, bibliography, index)(Informational picture book. 6-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.