OPAL - JOURNAL OF AN UNDERSTANDING HEART - WHITELEY

Orphaned before she was 5, adopted by an Oregon lumberman and his wife and transported across the country to live in nearly 20 lumber camps by the time she was 12 years old, Opal turned to the beauty of the natural world around her and saw it like no one I've read before or since I discovered this amazing journal.

Not only is her keen sense of observation astounding for a girl of her age, but the unique language in which she conveys it to us allows the reader to do away with any preconceptions that might be held, revealing our world in an entirely original, glorius light.

It's almost like seeing for the first time.

This young girl was possessed of an incredible mind -- she understood what she saw in the forest around her better than most adults, and she articulated it in such a way as to make it spring to life as only the mind of a child can do.

The writings, in their original form, were made by Opal on note-paper, wrapping paper, scraps of paper bags, whatever she could lay her hands on -- in the closely-spaced, all-capitals scrawl of a girl of 5 or 6 with little or no formal education.

The scraps of paper remained hidden in the Oregon woods until Opal was 20 -- it's a micacle (and a blessing to us) that they survived.

When she had retrieved the scraps, it took her 9 months to reassemble them.

There are many aspects of Opal's life that are still mysteries to us -- some of these are touched upon by the introduction and afterward by Jane Boulton, who assembled this volume, and by a postscript from Opal herself.

This is one of those books that will continue to touch and affect the reader for a lifetime -- Opal Whiteley's voice is a fresh, powerful and unforgettable one.

If more people could experience the pure, unadorned beauty of the world through the lens of this work, perhaps the fight to preserve and protect our fragile environment would be an easier battle to win.