The Sense of Wonder
Not long before she died in 1964, the noted environmental writer Rachel Carson wrote an essay forWoman's Home Companionmagazine called &quot;Helping Your Child to Wonder.&quot; In that essay--reprinted here, with photographs of natural subjects by Nick Kelsh--Carson urged parents to take their children to wild places in order to introduce them to the astonishing variety of life that exists all around us: to study birds, listen to the winds, and observe the stars. Too much of the child's subsequent education, she warns, will be devoted to dimming that &quot;clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring&quot; with which children are born; it is the parent's task to be an adult guide who can in turn rediscover the &quot;excitement and mystery of the world we live in.&quot; Carson's words are timely, and this beautifully illustrated edition makes a fine gift for new and prospective mothers and fathers.--Gregory McNamee