Date: March 18th, 2014

Rachel Carson

by Ann Whitford Paul

All By Herself by Ann Whitford PaulWhen Rachel was a child,
she hiked alone around her farm
and learned the names of flowers growing wild
and bugs and birds and trees.

When Rachel was a child,
after chores of milking cows
and making cheese, collecting eggs,
she read.
Her fondness was for nature books.
Sometimes she made up stories in her head
and wrote them down.

When she was only ten,
she overcame her shyness and,
addressing carefully,
sent one story to a magazine.
So pleased to see her words in print,
she knew what she would do
when she was not a child–
she’d write about the flowers
bugs and birds and trees
and all things growing wild.

Copyright © 1999 Ann Whitford Paul. From the book All By Herself. Harcourt Children’s Books. Reprinted by permission of the author.

About this Poem

In 1918 Rachel Carson received a ten-dollar prize for the publication of her story “A Battle in the Clouds” in St. Nicholas Magazine.  When she grew up, she wrote books that awakened people to the joys of the natural world and to the threats industry poses to plants and wildlife.  She is called the mother of the modern ecology movement.

About The Author

Children's Author Ann Whitford PaulAnn Whitford Paul became inspired to write after years of reading with her children.  She’s published 20 books, including All By Herself.  When she isn’t writing she loves to listen to her cat’s purr, follow snail trails and watch spiders spin webs.  Her web-site is www.annwhitfordpaul.net.

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