Quiet Please-Eaglets Growing
 Carolyn Stearns
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2002 Tidewater Publishers
  ISBN: 0870335413

A RebeccasReads author in Authors & Books

A young schoolboy, on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, goes to the rescue of a Bald Eagle habitat.

John-B knows he is lucky, because he lives in a small town on the western shore of the great Maryland bay, where there are many exciting things in his natural world to wonder at -- the boats going out to sea, the songbirds welcoming each new day, the tundra swans trumpeting, & the geese flying overhead.

Near his school, is a stand of regal, old, oak trees. High in their branches is an eagles' nest, built out of sticks & lined with moss, grass & feathers. For years, John-B has watched the adult eagles flying to & fro, & seen the white heads of the eaglets after they've hatched. John-B has watched generations of eagles grow, test their wings & fly off into their lives.

This year, something is different. Ms. Pancoast, John-B's teacher, tells her fifth grade students that the land where the oaks stand & the eagles have their nest, has been sold to a development company, which is going to cut down those beautiful oak trees, cover it with cement parking lots & build a condominium.

John-B is worried, “what will happen to the eagles?”

Thus begins a David & Goliath stand-off. John-B's classmates, with the help of Ms. Pancoast, write & sign a letter to the Sunset Company, telling them about the eagles, & that they should build somewhere else. Then the students write another letter to their parents, neighbors & friends, inviting everyone to come look at the eagles in their nest in the oak trees.

It is that chilly afternoon of eagle watching that makes everyone thoughtful: “What can we do to save the eagles?” & they set about a plan.

With attractive illustrations by David Aiken, Carolyn Stearns has written a charming, informative story of how people can make a difference in the world in which they live.

I hope Quiet Please-Eaglets Growing will make other children in other classrooms all over the country, think about how much of our natural world is being lost to commerce & cement.

Do check out my Interview with this author, it's a very interesting one!

More from Carolyn Stearns:
The Inheritance
Where Did All the Water Go?
Spirit-Walking.

Carolyn Stearns has also reviewed several books for us. To find them use the Search box on our Home Page.
(11/17/02)

Rebecca