From the award-winning creators of THOSE REBELS, JOHN & TOM, a joyful portrait of an American icon and an inspiring blueprint for how to live your life."Tis the good reader that makes the good book" - Ralph Waldo EmersonA Parents' Choice Gold Award WinnerAn NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book* "Exuberant." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review From the award-winning creators of What to Do About Alice?, comes a joyful portrait of an American icon and an inspiring blueprint for how to live your life.Before Ralph Waldo Emerson was a great writer, he was a city boy who longed for the broad, open fields and deep, still woods of the country, and then a young man who treasured books, ideas, and people. When he grew up and set out in the world, he wondered, could he build a life around these things he loved?This moving biography--presented with Kerley and Fotheringham's inimitable grace and style--illustrates the rewards of a life well-lived, one built around personal passions: creativity and community, nature and friendship.May it inspire you to experiment and build the life you dream of living.