Henry David Thoreau for Kids: His Life and Ideas, with 21 Activities
17 INTRODUCTION Leader WHAT MAKES HENRY THOREAU IMPORTANT I should not talk so much about myself if there were any body else whom I knew as well Walden enry Thoreau is most remembered for living for two years at Walden Pond in Concord Mass achusetts and for spending one night in jail for refusing to pay a state tax He lived only to the age of 44 and did not become famous in his lifetime Yet more than a century and a half after his death we still read his essays and books We still print his words on posters and greeting cards Why The first answer is a simple one We can relate to what Henry saw and experienced in the mid 1800s Our times may be different but the ways that people think act and react are very much the same Our concerns about laws and government may be similar to his Our connections with nature can be as close and as personal for us as they were for him Henry’s words reach out to us from across time and point out the realities that lie right in front of our noses His insights sound so true that it's almost as if he were here to read our minds or to give us advice in
How did this man become a symbol for American independence and for environmentalism You'll learn more about Henry here K FRAN Today's rebuilt North Bridge Rob DePaolo
in leader AT HOME IN CONCORD avid Henry Thoreau was born on July 12 1817 in Concord Massachusetts His parents John Thoreau and Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau already had two small children five year old Helen and two year old John Jr John was a quiet man Cynthia was an outspoken woman The family lived in part of a farm house that Cynthia had grown up in as a teen Henry's father was trying to make a living as both a storekeeper and a farmer Unfortunately his timing was bad 1816 was known to many as the Year Without a Summer On the other side of the planet an Indonesian volcano named Tambora had erupted in 1815 It sent so much thick ash into the Earth's atmosphere that it affected the next growing season in North America and northern Europe People living in Massachusetts saw frost in every month of 1816 More northern states and Canada had snow in every month As a result many crops didn't have a chance to grow well or even at all Anyone who raised veg etables for others had problems producing enough to
sell Although conditions were better the following year the Thoreaus decided to leave the farm and move closer to the town center They left Concord altogether in 1818 They spent several years in Chelmsford and in Boston John Thoreau worked at various jobs most often as a store manager By March 1823 the Thoreaus came back to Concord for good They brought with them a new member of the family baby Sophia so FYE ah who was two years younger than Henry IIIIIII IIT Ag LED 9 He in III Iii The center of Concord in 1839 from John Warner Barber's Historical Collections 1841 From the author's collection Pronouncing Thoreau As you talk with people about Henry Thoreau you will hear them pronounce his last name in two different
