Books with author Margaret W. Morley

In this illustrated classic, Margaret Morley teaches readers about how seeds sprout and grow into beautiful plants, how frogspawn makes frogs, how eggs hatch into birds.With many drawings and lots of conversation, Jack and his friends explore the garden and countryside near where they live. They discover all kinds of seeds, nuts, eggs and plants, learning lots about how nature works. They are amazed to discover that big fruits like melons originate from tiny seeds that can sit in the palm of a person's hand. The many fruits that people eat day to day, such as apples and pears, grow from trees that sprouted many years ago from a tiny seed that was made inside one of its fruits.Later on in the book, Jack and company find out how birds and other creatures hatch from eggs. Sometimes the eggs are protected by the mothers who lay them, while other eggs are simply left in the sun's warmth to hatch after a short time. The gang also find out how bumblebees make more plants grow by spreading pollen that they pick up while eating nectar from flowers.

An attractive introduction to the curious structure, habits, and activities of bees, in which readers learn how the bees' wondrous body parts equip them to gather nectar and pollen, construct the hive, and nurture the young, and how the different kinds of bees interact in the life of the hive. Over one hundred pen drawings by the author illustrate the features described in the text. Suitable for ages 8 and up.

Come, children; come with me. Come to a pond I know of. See how the water shines in the sun. Over there is an old log lying on the edge of the pond. It is covered with green moss, and a green frog is sitting on one end of it. Let us go and sit on the other end. Goop! he says, and—plump! he has jumped into the water. That is too bad, frog; we did not mean to disturb you. How pretty it is here!

Baby Mitchell was an August squirrel. That is, he was born in the month of August. His pretty gray mother found a nice hole, high up in the crotch of a tall chestnut tree, for her babies’ nest; and I know she lined it with soft fur plucked from her own loving little breast,—for that is the way the squirrel mothers do.This chestnut tree grew on the side of a steep mountain,—none other than Mount Mitchell, the highest mountain peak in all the eastern half of the United States. It is in North Carolina, where there are a great many beautiful mountains, but none of them more beautiful than Mount Mitchell, with the great forest trees on its slopes.One of these forest trees was the big chestnut where Baby Mitchell was born. In the warm and lovely summer he lay safe in his snug nest twenty feet above the ground.How many little brothers and sisters there were, I do not know, for a very sad thing happened, and all of them died but Little Mitchell. I must tell you what this sad thing was that happened to the little squirrels.There was a small log-cabin at the foot of the mountain, and here lived a father and mother and a very large family of very small children. There was no other house near; and the father had to go a great many miles through the woods to his work in a saw-mill that some one had set up in the mountains.

In 1890, Margaret Morley, a well-known biologist, writer, and educator, visited the mountains of North Carolina. She was so enchanted by their pastoral beauty and charm that she spent over a decade exploring the region, recording scenes of everyday life in captivating photographs and delightful prose. Her documentation culminated in her book The Carolina Mountains, originally published in 1913.The Carolina Mountains is a combination of travelogue, biological observation, history, and photography. Morley toured widely through areas of upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina, traveling by train, horse and buggy, horseback, and on foot. Her skill with a camera, her background in botany, and her ability to befriend the tough, independent mountaineers helped her create one of the most descriptive and poetic accounts of the region.Influenced by her Victorian sensibilities, Margaret Morley presents a unique historical perspective on the region. Her descriptions of the early settlers, early education in the mountains, local speech, the Biltmore Estate, Flat Rock, and the Great Smoky Mountains thoughtfully capture the essence of the area as she experienced it in the early twentieth century.Even today, we can trace Margaret Morley's travels throughout the region, from Caesar's Head to Asheville, Tryon to Cashiers. Her detailed descriptions of Mount Mitchell and Roan Mountain still ring true. With very few exceptions, the detailed and accurate account of her journeys makes The Carolina Mountains a reliable guidebook nearly a century later.Coinciding with a year-long celebration of Margaret Morley's photography ("The Carolina Mountains: Photography of Margaret Morley") at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, Bright Mountain Books' 2006 Historical Images reprinting of The Carolina Mountains is enhanced with over 60 pages of Margaret Morley's photographs.