A moving and informative biography of the 20th-century American agriculture scientist whose innovations in crop varieties founded the Green Revolution and fed hundreds of millions of people around the world - with full-color chapter illustrations and STEM - and history-themed text features throughout.
Can a quiet Iowa farm boy grow up to change the world? Norman Ernest Borlaug did.
Born in 1914, raised on a small farm, and educated in a one-room schoolhouse, Norman Borlaug learned to work hard and excelled in sports, and later studied forestry in college, eventually becoming a plant scientist.
Readers will discover how even from a young age Norman Borlaug dedicated his life's work to ending world hunger. Working in obscurity in the wheat fields of Mexico in the 50s and 60s, Norm and his team developed disease-resistant plants, and when widespread famine threatened India and Pakistan, Norm worked alongside poor farmers, battled bureaucracy, and fearlessly stood up to heads of state to save millions of lives from mass starvation.
Often called the "Father of the Green Revolution," Norm helped lay the groundwork for agricultural technological advances that alleviated world hunger, and he went on to win the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1970. He was a true hero for the hungry.
Text features throughout the book include:
- Sidebars on the science of plant hybridization and pathology Norman was using to produce new and better wheat varieties
- Information on a range of agriculture and plant life concepts, including agronomy, wheat genes, photoperiodism, stem rust, nutrients and more
- Back matter including a timeline of events and discoveries, and a call to action for readers to think about how they can use science to solve problems and how they can do small things to help with hunger and food waste
Hero for the Hungry is excellent for a science class learning about genetics, an agriculture class studying agronomy, or a history or English class looking for a well-written biography on a hero scientist.
About the Publisher
Feeding Minds Press is a project of the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, whose mission is to build awareness and understanding of agriculture through education. We focus on helping young readers understand where their food comes from, who grows it, and how it gets to them and believe in cultivating curiosity about food and farming and how agriculture plays a role in our daily lives. All books from Feeding Minds Press have accompanying lessons, activities, and videos to further learning available on their website, Feedingmindspress.com.
About the Author: Peggy Thomas is the author of more than twenty award-winning nonfiction books for children including Lincoln Clears a Path: Abraham Lincoln's Agricultural Legacy, illustrated by Stacy Innerst, and Full of Beans: Henry Ford Grows a Car, illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham, which earned the AFBFA 2020 Book of the Year Award. From her home in Middleport, NY, Peggy frequently speaks at schools, libraries, and conferences, promoting food security through her writing and in her own garden. A portion of all proceeds from this book will help support her local food pantry. Learn more at www.peggythomaswrites.com. Sam Kalda is an illustrator and artist who has taught at CUNY Queens College and Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His commissioned works include editorial, book, advertising and pattern illustration and in 2017 he received a gold medal in book illustration from the Society of Illustrators. His first book, which he both wrote and illustrated, was Of Cats and Men: History's Great Cat-loving Artists, Writers, Thinkers and Statesmen, and he's illustrated the highly acclaimed When Darwin Sailed the Sea and When We Walked on the Moon, both written by David Long. Sam lives in St. Paul, MN, in an old house with his husband and two cats. See more of Sam's work at www.samkalda.com.
