ISBN: 9781931498944 Year Added to Catalog: 2005 Book Format: Paperback Book Art: Full Color Number of Pages: 9 x 11, 48 pages Book Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Old ISBN: 1931498946 Release Date: September 15, 2005
Caldecott Honor Winner Inspires Young Readers with One Ordinary Woman’s Call to Activism
Three-time Caldecott Honor winner Molly Bang brings environmental activist Diane Wilson’s story to life for young readers in her graphic-novel-style book, Nobody Particular: One Woman’s Fight to Save the Bays. Chelsea Green releases this new edition of Nobody Particular to coincide with the release of Ms. Wilson’s own book, An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas.
Ms. Wilson lived a fairly ordinary life as a commercial shrimper and mother of five until she read a story in the newspaper saying that her home of Calhoun County, Texas, was the most polluted county in the United States. As a result of that discovery, Ms. Wilson launched a campaign against Formosa Plastics, an international chemical company that was dumping mercury and other toxins into the bay where she fished. She was determined to protect the Texas bays on which she, her father, and her grandfather had made their living.
In Nobody Particular, Bang tells Ms. Wilson’s inspiring story with colorful backgrounds done in gouache overlaid with comic-strip-style, India ink illustrations and black-and-white photographs. The background pictures and text tell the natural history and ecological story of the land and the bays, while the ink drawings and photographs tell of Ms. Wilson’s personal transformation from shrimper and mother into an activist who is willing to risk her life to restore her beloved bays and protect her community.
Ms. Wilson’s story is an inspiring tale of one ordinary woman’s ability to make a difference—she succeeded in forcing a huge corporation to change its plans, adopt more environmental safeguards, and agree to protect the health of the bays and the people who depend on them. This is a story of hope and possibilities for all of us who, like Ms. Wilson, may feel as though we are “nobody particular.”
Molly Bang is an award-winning children’s book illustrator and author. Her works include three Caldecott Honor Books: Ten, Nine, Eight; The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher; and When Sophie Gets Angry—Really, Really Angry, which also won a Jane Addams Honor Award and the Arbuthnot Award. The Paper Crane won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award in 1987; Goose won the School of Library Journal Best Book of 1996 and another work, Common Ground: The Water, Earth, and Air We Share, won the prestigious Giverny Book Award in 1998 for the best children’s science picture book. Her latest book, My Light, is an ALA Notable book.
Book available now | Paperback | $10.00 | 1-931498-94-6 | 9 x 11 | 48 pages
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