Carver, a life in poems

Nelson, Marilyn 1946- (Author).

Summary: This collection of poems assembled by award-winning writer Marilyn Nelson provides young readers with a compelling, lyrical account of the life of revered African-American botanist and inventor George Washington Carver. Born in 1864 and raised by white slave owners, Carver left home in search of an education and eventually earned a master's degree in agriculture. In 1896, he was invited by Booker T. Washington to head the agricultural department at the all-black-staffed Tuskegee Institute. There he conducted innovative research to find uses for crops such as cowpeas, sweet potatoes, and peanuts, while seeking solutions to the plight of landless black farmers. Through 44 poems, told from the point of view of Carver and the people who knew him, Nelson celebrates his character and accomplishments. She includes prose summaries of events and archival photographs.--Publisher's description.

Item details

ISBN: 1886910537 (alk. paper)
ISBN: 9781886910539 (alk. paper)
Physical Description: print
103 p. : ill ; 24 cm.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Asheville, N.C. : Front Street, c2001.

Contents / Notes

Formatted Contents Note:

Arachis Hypogaea -- Baby Carver -- Bedside reading -- Cafeteria food -- Called -- Cercospora -- Charmed life -- Chemistry 101 -- Chicken talk -- Clay -- Coincidence -- Curve-breaker -- Dawn walk -- Dimensions of the Milky Way -- Drifter -- Driving Dr. Carver -- Egyptian blue -- Eureka -- Four a.m. in the woods -- Friends in the Klan -- From an Alabama farmer -- "God's little workshop" -- Goliath -- Green-thumb boy -- House ways and means -- How a dream dies -- Joy of sewing -- Lace-maker -- Last rose of summer -- Last talk with Jim Hardwick -- Letter to Mrs. Hardwick -- Lovingly sons -- Mineralogy -- Moton field -- My beloved friend -- My dear spiritual boy -- My people -- Nervous system of the beetle -- New rooster -- 1905 -- Odalisque -- Old settlers' reunion -- Out of "Slave's ransom" -- Out of the fire -- Patriarch's blessing Penol cures -- Perceiving self -- Poultry husbandry -- Prayer of Miss Budd -- Prayer of the ivory-handled knife -- Professor Carver's Bible class -- Ruellia Noctiflora -- Ship without a rudder -- Sweet-hearts -- Veil-raisers -- Washboard wizard -- Watkins laundry and apothecary -- Wild garden -- Year of the sky-smear.

Awards Note:

Newbery Honor Book, 2002.

Coretta Scott King Honor, author, 2002.

Find similar items by subject

Currently available copies

101 out of 104 copies are currently available at PINES. (Show)
5 out of 5 copies are currently available at Flint River Regional Library System. (Show)
1 out of 1 copy are currently available at Peachtree City Library.