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Knee Deep in Wetland Reads

Written on: March 19th, 2025 in Education and Outreach

By Olivia Allread, DNREC’s Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program

Nature has been engrained into storytelling basically since the beginning of time. In most cultures throughout history, the natural world has been featured in stories and books in many ways – a place of mystery, a pathway of self-discovery, foundations of peace and rest, even a location of magic and unearthly enchantment. Not to mention being the center point of many cultures’ traditions and explanations of our societal history. In these modern times, we could use a little escape. So, for this blog post let’s look at a few books written by female authors that feature one of our favorite things, wetlands.

Curlew Moon by Mary Colewell

Introducing the Eurasian curlew, the largest European wading bird. Once very common in the UK, the species now is under major threat from encroaching agricultural, loss of habitat, and has been listed as Near Threated on the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This book collides the story of an endangered species with a 500-mile walk of self-discovery that Colewell herself did in 2016. From the west of Ireland to the east coast of England, the journey was meant to raise awareness of the bird’s plight yet becomes a formative pilgrimage into estuaries and moors. Meeting wildlife, landowners, and conservationists along the way, Colewell takes a hard look at what complicates the lives of vulnerable species while following the curlew’s life from breeding to flying free.

Marjory Saves the Everglades by Sandra Neil Wallace

Real life experiences can breed the best books. This children’s book tells the story of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, an environmental journalist and advocate who also helped form our incredible Everglades National Park. When Douglas returned home to Florida after World War I, she became increasingly concerned with the ruin and development of the Everglades area. Though she was not a scientist, she pursued learning as much as she could about the subtropical wetland ecosystem spanning two million acres across central and south Florida. This story concisely encompasses many parts of Douglas’ life – an author, a self-taught ecologist, an advocate, and the original meaning of a “Florida girl”. Through her work, America’s perspective of the Everglades transformed from a useless swamp to an invaluable resource worth protecting and preserving.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

How about one you may have heard of? This critically acclaimed book turned film follows two storylines that intertwine, mixing southern wetlands with murder mystery. Divided into two parts, “The Marsh” and “The Swamp”, readers follow the protagonist as she grows up in remote wetlands of North Carolina into young adulthood, when she is accused of committing a local murder. Along the way, she becomes a skilled,self-taught naturalist and scientific illustrator along the way. Known as the “Marsh Girl”, the meandering creeks and coastline of Kya’s world are worked into the plot from exposition to resolution in this coming-of-age story.

Dry to Dry: The Seasons of Kakadu by Pamela Freeman

Freeman is a well-known Australian writer with a hefty list of novels for all ages, and her children’s books usually have a heavy focus on the environment. Her most recent publication takes readers on an informative journey through the diverse seasons of Australia’s Kakadu National Park, where tropical wetlands go through the yearly weather cycle; dry to wet to dry again. Floodplains, lizards, light storms, spear grass, fruit bats, crocodiles, tidal flats – you name it, they’re featured. Plus, there are amazing illustrations to keep kids engaged. Nestled in Australia’s Northern Territory, Kakadu is also a UNESCO World Heritage site full of diverse wetland landscapes and Aboriginal culture.

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

This one is a bit out there, but an awesome read. As an alternative American history piece, the book expands on an early 20^th century idea to fix the country’s meat shortage by importing hippos and raising them in Louisiana’s bayou. Yes, you heard that correct. The proposed plan and bill unfortunately fell through, but Gailey ran with the idea for her book to showcase an America where ranchers raised hippos in wetlands, rather than beef, to provide meat and control the invasive water hyacinth. Set in the 1890s, swamps and marshes are overrun with feral hippos, then steps in a super-hero not often seen – a rancher turned mercenary hippo wrangler. The wrangler and his band of whacky characters are tasked by the United States government to deal with the dangerous beasts and save the wetlands.

The Shore by Sara Taylor

And finally, wetlands on the Delmarva peninsula. A fiction novel taking place on a group of small islands off the coast of Virginia, the Shore has been home to generations of strong and resilient women. Throughout the story, the women’s experiences meet head-on, combining a 150-year history of two barrier island families from 1876 to 2143. Wealth and poverty play a major role in the outcomes of the generations who have lived there, while the connection to maritime land is threaded in each of the characters’ plot lines. Chesapeake Bay life is often beautifully isolated in culture yet biologically diverse in ecosystem, and this book certainly speaks to both sentiments of the watershed.

A setting in a book can provide that “je ne sais quoi” we all need to enjoy or take a break from the world. When we get in the weeds about politics or the degradation of our environment, a story can help us turn our thoughts to positivity and even advocacy. Discover a conservationist you’ve never heard of. Recount a historical moment in a dramatized way. Get kids enthralled with our ecosystems or habitats unseen. Not matter the genre, we’re happy to see wetlands setting the scene as a focal point of a good read.

Tags: Education, Wetlands