A White Heron - Hardcover

Jewett, Sarah Orne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0884480828 ISBN 13: 9780884480822

Publisher: Tilbury House Pub, 1990

Synopsis

This beloved short story a classic coming-of-age tale by the author of The Country of the Pointed Firs is gloriously illustrated with pencil drawings by Maine artist Douglas Alvord. Sylvia, a city girl more at home with animals than with people, has come to the Maine Woods to live with her grandmother. One summer afternoon in the late 1800s, her life is changed forever when she meets an attractive young ornithologist searching for birds to snare, stuff, preserve, and display.

With consummate literary skill, Jewett dramatizes the storm of emotions Sylvia feels both for this young man and for the natural world, and especially for the rare white heron the ornithologist is so eager to possess. Mr. Alvord's pictures are as delicate as Sylvia's emotions and as precise as Jewett's descriptions of Sylvia's inner struggle.

About this title

About the Author

Sarah Orne Jewett (1849 1900) was born in South Berwick, Maine, and lived there most of her life.

Review

One hundred and five years ago, in the first edition of A Wbite Heron, writer Sarah Orne Jewett posed some tough questions for the youngsters reading her book: What is an individual's responsibility to nature? Does our desire to understand the world give us the right to dominate plant and animal life? Should human relationships take precedence over relationships with other species? Is there any way for humans to co-exist with nature, or must we trample, dissect, or attempt to control it? Prescient questions, these, making the new Tilbury House edition of A Wbite Heron a moving, intelligent and necessary book. Beautifully illustrated, this children's story (for readers 9 and up) is about Sylvia, a child reared by her grandmother to spare her from the hustle-and-bustle of late 19th-century urban, industrial life. A friend to birds and animals, it is only when she is befriended by a young male ornithologist that Sylvia comes headon with conflicts over value systems and loyalties. The resolution of this dilemma is skillfully wrought, revealing the complexity of the decision making-process and the ethical conundrum that will save, or destroy, the earth. Oldfashioned and charming, it is a valuable book, guaranteed to spark discussion and lively debate. -- From Independent Publisher

About this edition

• Publisher: Tilbury House Pub
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0884480828
• ISBN 13: 9780884480822
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 25