Love Every Leaf: The Life of Landscape Architect Cornelia Hahn Oberlander - Hardcover

Stinson, Kathy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0887768040 ISBN 13: 9780887768040

Publisher: Tundra Books, 2008

Synopsis

Cornelia Hahn Oberlander, who has been a landscape architect for more than sixty years, considers her profession “the art of the possible.” The description also applies to the very way this remarkable 86-year-old has lived her life. Playing in her grandmother’s garden as a child, Cornelia absorbed the beauty and importance of the natural world and by the age of eleven had decided that she would become a landscape architect.

Leaving her native Germany in the wake of Hitler’s persecution of the Jews, the teenaged Cornelia was transplanted in America, where she could pursue her dream in safety, although not without having to struggle to carve out a place for herself in the male-dominated world of her chosen profession. This 96-page biography tells her remarkable life’s story, complete with photographs and plans for the imaginative playgrounds and the innovative museum and embassy grounds she has created around the world, and for green rooftops, her latest passion. Young readers will not only learn about the profession, but also will find inspiration in Cornelia Hahn Oberlander’s love for the natural world and the respect and concern she shows for our increasingly fragile environment.

About this title

About the Author

Kathy Stinson was born in Toronto. She was a mail sorter, elementary school teacher, and a waitress before she turned her hand to writing. It was a wise decision. She wrote Red Is Best and Big Or Little. Since then, she has had over thirty titles published for a wide range of audiences. Kathy Stinson has two grown-up children, two grown-up stepchildren, and five grandchildren. She lives with her partner, Peter Carver, near Rockwood, Ontario.

Reviews

Grade 5–8—In a clear style, Stinson relates the life of the landscape architect. Inspired by her grandmother's garden, Oberlander decided upon her future career by age 11. By 1939, life for her Jewish family in Hitler's Germany had become so difficult that she and her family immigrated to America. Average-quality, black-and-white photographs (full-page and small) on nearly every spread provide a picture of her personal growth as a student, wife, and artist as she persevered in achieving her lifelong goals. Photographs of her various projects and models as well as her favorite plants are included, though some of the pictures lack adequate contrast. Reproductions of her drawings and environmentally innovative plans incorporating green roofs and the use of mounds are interspersed throughout. Vibrant and creative well into her 80s, Oberlander is an inspiring example of filling a life with what you love.—Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA
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Edition details

• Publisher: Tundra Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0887768040
• ISBN 13: 9780887768040
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 96