Plight of the Pelican: How Science Saved a Species [Books for a Better Earth]
by Jessica Stremer; illus. by Gordy Wright
Primary    Holiday    40 pp.
4/25    9780823457038    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780823462094    $11.99

The partnership between Stremer’s expressive and suspenseful text and Wright’s evocative hand-painted gouache, ink, and acrylic illustrations (see Great Carrier Reef, rev. 7/23) gives readers an exceptionally clear picture of the discovery and correction of one historical threat to wildlife: the use of DDT on crops. The text on the opening spread is positioned like a projectile moving across the page in concert with a brown pelican pod flying together, which plunges as the birds dive for fish. Readers then discover a problem that scientists noticed in the 1950s: fewer and fewer pelicans being born. The text asks: why? Scientists find that the birds’ eggshells have become so fragile they cannot support the parents’ weight in the nest. Again, the same question: why? And again, scientists search to find the answer, eventually theorizing that DDT contaminates the food chain, leading to weakened shells. They test this hypothesis, and even though they find strong evidence of the link, these findings are rejected by farmers, the companies that produce DDT, and the government. But public protest drowns out these voices, and the use of DDT is finally eliminated. The book concludes with other concerns that threaten wildlife today. Extensive back matter offers further detail (including spelling out Rachel Carson’s role in sounding the alarm about DDT), additional brown pelican facts, a glossary, a bibliography, and an index.

From the March/April 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.