The Camping Trip That Changed America by Barb Rosenstock

My family and I love the outdoors! We go camping, hiking, horse back riding, and are open to anything else that gets us into nature.  If I have an hour or so that I have free and alone I love to go sit in the woods and read or write.  I think connecting with fresh air, and taking in the sounds and sights of nature without houses, roads, or tons of people recharges us.

I was recently talking to a friend about news I heard of protections being lifted off of many national park lands, and so how worried I am about how these beautiful wild lands will change.  I know when I finally get to go see the Grand Canyon I don't want to see massive mining next to it, or the water to be full of runoff and toxins due to mining.  I want to go see the beauty of this land untouched by man.

As my friend and I were talking she told me that I should read about one of her favorite presidents, who started protecting lands, and in reading and doing research I have to agree with her, Theodore Roosevelt is one of my favorite presidents as well.  Now let me share this wonderful book with you

The Camping Trip That Changed America:
Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and our National Parks


Written by Barb Rosenstock
Illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein

Barb Rosenstock has done a great job at telling us a bit about both Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir, and how they came to meet each other.  They both loved nature.  John Muir fought to get people to care about the wilderness and wanted to protect land from over development.  Roosevelt as president loved to read, and he read a book by John Muir that inspired him to reach out to the author.  He set up a camping trip to go on after one of his trips out west.  This camping trip that Barb tells the story of is what set up our national parks.

The book goes one to tell of the men's time in the woods.  In the Author's Note at the end of the book Barb tells how there is little record of what the men talked about so she did the best she could.  I think she did a great job and in reading it, it flows so well.  As a naturalist who spent so much time out in the woods I'm sure Muir did have encounters with bear, and knew many great details to tell Roosevelt.

Black Bear at Grandfather Mt, NC

As I read to my children we were completely taken in with Gerstein's unique illustrations that combines sketches and watercolor.  We (my children and myself) learned a great deal about this part of history and nature.  My girls favorite page was the giant sequoias, that I had to turn the book.  I loved the part where John tells of running into a bear: "...the bear had the better manners!"

Science teachers will love the part in the book telling of how the land has changed over time.  Muir tells how the land was underwater once, and how volcanoes and glaciers formed the landscapes.  This is a great bit to discuss.

The very last page of the book has even more information and quotes and more resources.  I love this page and made sure to read it to my kids along with the picture book part.  There were so many more facts on that page that just didn't fit into the narrative Barb told.  It made me want to learn more, and made my whole family want to go and see so much more of our national parks.

I want to share with you these facts on Teddy Roosevelt and how he changed America to what we have today:
*He declared the first 18 National Monuments
*He founded the first 55 bird sanctuaries and game preserves
*He added 148 million acres to National Forest
*He doubled the number of National Parks

This wonderful book, is a work on non-fiction, meaning it's true, we get a chance with this book to look back on history and discover something new, and I hope that in reading this that we can look to the present and the future and see how we can help preserve the wild, and be more environmentally mindful. 

  Today we have
* 417 National Park Sites
*There are 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. These lands total 193 million acres.

I really hope everyone takes the time to read The Camping Trip That Changed America.  If it inspires you to check out even more I will have other books for adults and children at the bottom of this post for you.

Have a great rest of your week and go out into the wood and explore nature!  See why we are so passionate about it!


More information:
Scientific American: Worse and Worse the Trump Administrations continuing war on national parks
National Park Conservation Association: 2017 in Review, 10 worst actions for parks
The Hill: American's Parks and Public Lands Suffer
wilderness.org Mining next to the Grand Canyon