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Reviewed by: Taylor Coonelly, Elementary School Librarian Title: Wild at Heart: The Story of Olaus and Mardy Murie, Defenders of Nature
Author: Evan Griffith
Illustrator: Anna Bron
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: K-5 Genre/Type of Book: Biography
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: N/A
Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book:
Nominated for the CYBILS award for Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
As they watched the natural world being invaded by profit and destruction, two people sought to advocate for the animals and land that couldn't.
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Review:
As they watched the natural world being invaded by profit and destruction, two people sought to advocate for the animals and land that couldn't.
As children, Olaus and Mardy were fascinated by the nature of their homes; Minnesota and Alaska respectively. Olaus went to school to study biology, traveling to Canada to study the birds of Alaska that Mardy studied and explored. Meeting each other in Mardy's hometown, the couple got married and set of on an adventure of science. They traveled up and down the Artic wilderness studying the animals and flora that thrived there, and falling deeper in love with the natural world. They consulted with the Native peoples living on the land, who helped them navigate dangerous terrain and study animals in respectful ways. As they explored, they found that the changing world was destroying animal habitats for architecture and creating polluted air and waterways. Mardy and Olaus decided to become conservationists, fighting for the protection of land and the creatures living amongst it. Though they were often met with dismissal at their 'pretty speeches' and denial for profits, the U.S. government eventually created the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, over 8 million acres of protected land. Mardy and Olaus continued to fight for the protection of land not just in the Artic, but around the United States. This book was a beautifully illustrated and well written biography about two conservationists who did incredible work in the United States (I had never heard of either of them before this book). The story is written in a way that is accessible to elementary kids, and includes illustrations and land and animals that are fascination for young audiences. The illustrations were incredibly intentional, with different borders and colors representing different ideas and landscapes.
The back of the book also houses bibliographic information on Olaus and Mardy, as well as statements on land conservation and Native peoples. Something else of note is that the author writes a note about how Olaus had some troubled history with respect for animal life and Native burial sites, and that while studying these individuals in history is important, it is also imperative to note that historical figures (like humans) are flawed and complex. This is the kind of note that I think is really important in historical texts, because I think the idea often gets lost.
This book is a great biography for elementary audiences that focuses on habitats, conservation, and environmental issues, and would be a good choice in a lesson about any of those topics or on a biography lesson focus.
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For more information about this book, see the Publisher's Website