IF I WERE A PARK RANGER

A series of children imagine all the things they might do if they were park rangers.

From the typical education of a ranger to a short sentence each about some people who were important in the history of the National Park Service, Stier packs a lot in. The job varies as much as the national parks themselves, which can include historical sites, wilderness areas, or even a ship or monument. It might involve scientific research, interaction with visitors, giving tours, costumed history interpretation, educational outreach, designing exhibits, mapmaking, or updating park websites. “And maybe, because of all I did, some visitors to my park would experience something astonishing…a moment that could happen nowhere else in the world….Then, like me, they’d want to take care of these very special places too.” In Corrigan’s artwork, the six uniformed children (diverse racially if not by ability or body type) are seen performing the duties of park rangers, though they remain children and the scientists and visitors around them are adults. Not all the illustrations are distinct enough to identify the national parks without their labels (the illustration of Glacier National Park shows snowshoers in front of generic evergreens and twin mountains, for instance), though the range of parks depicted is nice.

A great way to introduce children to a not-often-depicted career path and maybe to spark some interest in our country’s national treasures as well.