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SIGRID SCHMALZER, a professor of history at the University of
Massachusetts (Amherst, MA), has lived in China, holds a doctorate
in modern Chinese history and science studies, and is the author of
Red Revolution, Green Revolution: Scientific Farming in Socialist
China (2016) and the award-winning The People’s Peking Man: Popular
Science and Human Identity in Twentieth-Century China (2008).
New
mom MELANIE LINDEN CHAN, of Rhode Island, works in a variety of
media—including
watercolor, acrylic, and pen and ink—to create books for children
that open
their minds to other cultures and ways of life. Moth and Wasp, Soil
and Ocean is among her first book-length
projects.
"A picture book about the scientist who pioneered integrated pest
management sounds boring, but this title is anything but. Schmalzer
presents the life of Pu Zhelong through flashbacks and connects it
to a child's-eye-view of a changing world, all set against the
backdrop of Communist-era China. The representative illustrations
create a fascinating, multi-layered visual feast that frames the
flashbacks as journal pages and which incorporate historically and
scientifically accurate illustrations of tools and insects set
within beautifully designed Chinese paper cuts. This title would be
a great STEAM pick for classrooms or home use. Both the
illustrations and the science are fantastic. "
*School Library Connection*
" The young narrator, a fictional composite, recalls how insect
invasions seriously threatened essential rice and lychee harvests
in rural 1960s–70s Guangdong, China. The narrator explains that
farmers were relying on expensive pesticides, which made people
sick and gradually became ineffective, to battle pests. The arrival
of Pu Zhelong, a pioneering environmentalist trained in Minnesota,
changed the locals' approach. Working with farmers and students,
barefoot, Zhelong advocated for natural-predator balance, and
health and harvests improved. Clear, detailed text and drawings
explain the use of parasitic wasps and silk-moth eggs for
biological control; a lucid afterword connects readers to history
(and acknowledges that pesticides are still widely used); and a
brief bibliography provides additional value. Author and
illustrator gracefully convey their expertise. Lyrical yet
realistic line-and-color wash illustrations, dominated by rich
greens, assure visual appeal. The clever scrapbook conceit might
produce some confusion about the narrator's age but allows for the
introduction of a dozen decorative and instructive paper-cut
Chinese characters. An endpage explains each.
VERDICT Readers interested in environmental science and
Chinese history, language, and culture will find an engaging and
informative story here. "
*School Library Journal*
" We spent last summer battling paper wasps. They were making nests
in every nook and cranny they could find. My daughter got stung
multiple times while playing at her grandparents. The insects were
a menace. Never in a million years did I think wasps could be
useful. Then I read Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean. I was
entertained and educated by the book. Author Sigrid Schmalzer —
winner of the Joseph Levenson Post-1900 Book Prize for 2018 for her
book Red Revolution, Green Revolution — knows her subject well and
that’s apparent. Her strength, however, is her ability to make this
topic accessible for young readers. While Moth and Wasp, Soil and
Ocean is not overly technical, Schmalzer doesn’t shy away from
solid information. Illustrator Melanie Chan builds on Schmalzer’s
text, providing context and making scientific process easier to
understand. Chan’s watercolor illustrations transport readers to
China, exposing them to a culture that is utterly foreign to many.
Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean is a lovely look at how humans both
help and harm the environment. Moth and Wasp, Soil and Ocean is a
fascinating picture book that will appeal to adults as well as
children. "
*Jessica - Cracking the Cover blog*
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