The Sense of Wonder: A Celebration of Nature for Parents and Children

First published a half-century ago in 1965, Rachel Carson’s The Sense of Wonder remains the classic guide to introducing children to the marvels of nature. In 1955, acclaimed conservationist Rachel Carson–author of Silent Spring–began work on an essay that she would come to consider one of her life’s most important projects. Her grandnephew, Roger Christie, had visited Carson that summer at her cottage in Maine, and together they had wandered the surrounding woods and tide pools. Teaching Roger about the natural wonders around them, Carson began to see them anew herself, and wanted to relate that same magical feeling to others who might hope to introduce a child to the beauty of nature. “If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder,” writes Carson, “he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”