Carver: A Life in Poems

Overview

Newbery Honor Book
National Book Award finalist
Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
Boston Globe-Horn Book Award
Flora Stieglitz Straus Award

Beautiful verse explores agricultural scientist George Washington Carver’s life and many achievements, from his work as a botanist and inventor to his unsung gifts as a painter, musician, and teacher.

George Washington Carver was determined to help the people he loved. Born a slave in Missouri, he left home in search of an education, eventually earning his master’s degree. When Booker T. Washington invited Carver to start the agricultural department at the all-black-staffed Tuskegee Institute, Carver truly found his calling. He spent the rest of his life seeking solutions to the poverty among landless Black farmers by developing new uses for soil-replenishing crops such as peanuts, cowpeas, and sweet potatoes. This STEAM biography reveals Carver’s complex and profoundly devout life.