Beloved author Jean Craighead George (July 2, 1919–May 15, 2012) wrote more than 100 books for young adults, including the Newbery Medal-winning Julie of the Wolves, the Newbery Honor book My Side of the Mountain and its sequel, On the Far Side of the Mountain.
You were perhaps 65
when you went whitewater rafting
With your 103-year-old mother.
You may not have made it quite as long as she
But you drank life to the lees.
You cared about the environment
Long before it was fashionable.
But then, you never much cared
What other people thought.
You wanted children to care
So they would take care of
The animals and trees and rivers you loved.
Through your eyes,
The falcon was not so fierce on
My Side of the Mountain
And Amaroq and his pack
Were gentlemen in
Julie of the Wolves.
Your ecological mysteries
Taught us about the delicate balance
In threatened ecosystems.
And your how-to books taught us
The language of cats and dogs.
You even endeared the three-toed sloth
To us.
Your books are your Valentines
to the earth and its inhabitants.
Through them we fall in love
Again and again and again.
--Jennifer M. Brown