In recognition of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the renowned children's author Thornton W. Burgess, the library is hosting a lecture series on three of Burgess’s renowned children’s non-fiction books; Wildflowers for Children, Seashore for Children, and Animals for Children. A fourth lecture based on Burgess’ book Birds for Children is planned on Thursday, June 13 at 6:00pm at the Sandwich Center for Active Living. 

To kick it off, we're excited to bring you this first lecture on "Thornton Burgess and Wildflowers by Janice Donovan". Ms. Donovan will discuss Thornton Burgess’s connection to wildflowers and will examine the various stages of a wildflower’s life – from budding to bloom, to seed setting and dying back – from shade loving to full sun. 

ABOUT THE LECTURE:

Thornton Burgess loved Wildflowers and so should we. He wrote books about Wildflowers for both children and adults to learn from roughly 100 years ago. Step back in time to learn why certain wildflowers were so important to Burgess, and why they still need to be important to us today. In this lecture, you will learn not only about Burgess's relationship to the beauty of flowers found in the wild, but how we can all become more educated regarding the need to protect, preserve and even plant these intrinsically vital parts of nature...  today! 

ABOUT THE LECTURER: Janice Donovan is the manager of the Shirley G. Cross Wildflower Garden at the Green Briar Nature Center, overseeing the care of many rare and unique plants. Before this position she worked for a landscape architect, developing her understanding of dynamic  gardenscapes. Later she worked for the Town of Weymouth Park Department as an assistant administrator to urban park management. For the past ten years she has been growing much of her family’s food, beverages, herbs and remedies with wildflowers scattered in between. A recent joy has been co-organizing the Environmental Challenge Group for children and adults to better understand ones impact on the natural environment, as consumers of resources, and how to live more sustainably. Finally, as a part of the Project LIFE team, Janice had the opportunity to teach local ecology to Sandwich High School students and work along side many of Cape Cod’s esteemed naturalists.