Classroom Connections: Force of Nature by Ann E. Burg

Please tell us about your book.

Many people consider Rachel Carson the Mother of the Environmental Movement. Force of Nature, A Novel of Rachel Carson tells the story of the writer and marine biologist, Rachel Carson, from her early years in Springdale PA, to the publication of her final work    Silent Spring.

What inspired you to write this story? 

While googling ways to reduce my carbon footprint, I kept coming across the inspiring words of Rachel Carson. I knew she had something to do with the environment and the banning of the pesticide DDT, but I hadn’t realized the depth of her love and concern for the earth. The quoted snippets from her books and speeches that I came cross revealed a gifted writer whose love for our planet was profound. I set out to learn more about Rachel and was amazed at all she accomplished despite family and financial difficulties and a patriarchal culture that frowned on women in science.  It seemed a good time to reintroduce Rachel to a new generation of young readers.

Could you share with readers how you conducted your research and/or a few interesting tidbits about your writing process with this book? 

Once I’ve decided I wanted to explore the life and times of Rachel Carson, I read  The Sea Around Us (which won the National Book Award in 1951) and reread her most famous book, Silent Spring. I also read a number of books about Rachel as well as her speeches and a collection of her letters. I hoped  to visit her home Springdale but it was still closed because of Covid. I did visit the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale which includes a number of Rachel’s personal papers. Seeing her childhood drawings and early stories made me feel a connection to her as a real person and not just the symbol of a movement. 

Research is important, and getting facts straight is important, but at some point I need to put the books and notes aside to internalize what I’ve read. I write my verse novels in first person to remove boundaries. I didn’t want people to read about Rachel Carson. I wanted them to feel what Rachel felt and to hopefully recognize qualities worth emulating. 

What are some special challenges associated with fictionalizing a true story and introducing a setting with which your audience might be unfamiliar?

This is a great question! Usually in my historical novels, the setting is real but the characters are imagined. Assuming the voice of a real person, especially one who is well known and who has family members and friends who are still alive was a bit intimidating. That’s why it was so important to research thoroughly but to also let that research take root in my heart and mind. 

The unfamiliar setting was much less of a challenge. The obstacles Rachel faced indicated the setting without any additional input from me. Industrial pollution. Financial insecurity. Male chauvinism. Rachel’s struggles reflected the world in which she lived, and I really didn’t need to spend much time setting the stage. 

What topics does your book touch upon that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?

There are any number of perspectives which make this book a great classroom read. Of course, the most notable may be its reflection on our relationship with nature. There are so many Rachel Carson quotations found on the web and reflected in Force of Nature. For instance, in Silent Spring, Rachel wrote, …man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself. Students could be asked what this (or any other) quote means and how its meaning is reflected in Rachel’s work. 

Force of Nature also examines the evolution of society’s opinion of women. Her mother had to give up teaching once she was married. Does that seem fair? How has society changed? How has it stayed the same? How did being a woman impact the reception of Rachel’s work? 

I chose to write this novel in first person and in verse. How do these choices effect the work? Do students prefer straight narrative? One possible activity to explore different writing styles could be to have students choose a selection and rewrite in paragraph form, adding details as necessary. 

Students might also be challenged to update the themes found in Force of Nature  (our relationship with nature, the rights of women, family and financial struggles) to reflect contemporary issues.