Night Walk to the Sea: A Story About Rachel Carson, Earth’s Protector

Loosely based on two anecdotes from the ecologist and writer Rachel Carson’s life (1907–1964), Wiles’s fictional tale focuses on the emotional world of Roger, a small child who pivots from fear in a power outage to stomping waves to delicately rescuing a waterlogged firefly “as carefully as the most gentle monster” in the company of his caregiver, Carson. Descriptions of nature are especially poignant: “they released the firefly... [and] watched it flit and circle and wink away.” Miyares’s dreamlike illustrations complement the lengthy poetic text, using light and dark to evoke Roger’s sense of confidence, comfort, fear, and wonder while conjuring the magic of a flashlight-lit walk to a bioluminescent ocean on a thundery night. Some readers may find the title misleading, however, as historical information about Carson’s significant life and legacy appear only as back matter. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)