I begin with spring

I Begin With Spring about the life and seasons of the infamous and altruistic poet and land surveyor Henry David Thoreau has a fascinating draw for both children and young adults and mostly because Julie Dunlap, the author used the illustrations of children's book illustrator Megan Elizabeth Baratta who owns one cat named Pip to both highlight and explain the true story of the 1800's poem artist. Thoreau spent much of his boyhood enjoying traipsing through the woods around his family home and drawing pictures of the plants, birds and animals he found along the way. As an adult while during his stay at Walden Pond he spent much time after each morning swim at the pond during the day doing much of what he had learned from his childhood art and writing endeavor. He found himself enamored about the study of seeds, a popular scientific exploration for many of his day. He especially became interested in the mysteries behind the growth of the simple Milkweed Pod.

"When he found a milkweed pod, he knew flat brown seeds grew inside, each with its own silk parachute. Cracked open, the pod released hundreds of seeds into the air, higher and higher, toward a chance at life next year. Milkweed devote their summers to making seeds, Henry said, perfecting "a prophesy . . . of future springs." But Henry, although a prolific poet and the only son in his family that his parents could afford to send to college, he not only attended Harvard -but would also attract the attention of the abolitionists. Thoreau also an early activist for his time had done his share of protesting against slavery which he was open and adamant about his opposition to. A talk he gave once during the times of self-freed former slave and public speaker for the reformation of same, Frederick Douglass, "The Rights and Duties of the Individual in Relation to Government," also opened the way for the female members of his family to join a group also dedicated to ending slavery. Known as the Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society the women made Douglass their head speaker. "I felt like one who had escaped a den of hungry lions," he exclaimed about his escape from a Maryland farm. "How could anyone hear such mighty words and not demand change?"

Other highlights of the book without giving the rest of the book away focus on Thoreau's friendship with a talented female author of the day, one Louisa May Alcott. And especially through his connection to her innovative educator father and other Transcendentalist thinkers of that climate, Thoreau aroused interest not only through his highly political essay named "Civil Disobedience" - but also through his scientific endeavor. Thoreau influenced both famous thinkers of his day and those who would come here during a future world years after his departure from earth such as Martin Luther King Jr., Walt Whitman, E. B. White, Mahatma Gandhi, John F. Kennedy, George Bernard Shaw, Sinclair Lewis, Upton Sinclair, Leo Tolstoy, Marcel Proust and a host of others. Thoreau had a deep love for the simple life and the nature God had created for us to live amongst. He found himself most influenced by the gentle creatures of earth. "The birds which visited us in Spring are now retiring to warmer countries, as they know that Winter coming."