Reviewed by Kristin
The title expresses it well. Unbelievably, some tourists are
not impressed by the Grand Canyon. One star review here: “A hole. A very, very
large hole.” Well, if that doesn’t impress you, buddy, I’m not sure what will.
Amber Share covers dozens of funny and underwhelming reviews about locations in
the United States National Park Service (NPS). It’s surprising how many people
complain about the lack of WiFi and cell signal when they are in the middle of
nature.
The NPS was established over a century ago in 1916 and became
responsible for the management of federal lands already being protected under
the presidential leadership of President Woodrow Wilson. Since that time, the
NPS has grown to include more than 420 parks, recreation areas, seashores,
rivers, and much more. The land mass included is over 84 million acres. These
areas are of enormous national and cultural significance. Wouldn’t you think
that most people appreciate that? Not everyone. Not even close.
Denali National Park in Alaska was established in 1980. The
mountain lending its name to the park had a previous name: Mount McKinley (no
thanks to President William McKinley, who never visited) but the peak was
officially returned to its Native name by the state of Alaska in 1975 before
the formation of the park. The park encompasses six million acres with an
abundance of flora and fauna, but one reviewer tagged it a “barren wasteland of
tundra.” Takes all kinds, I guess.
Moving on to warmer climes, Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park
features the very volcanoes which formed the Hawaiian islands. Beautiful and
rare plants fill the park, as well as sea turtles and many bird species.
Unfortunately, one reviewer was extremely upset by the fact that they “didn’t
even get to touch lava.” Ouch.
In my home state of Indiana, Hoosiers are pretty much
impressed by anything that interrupts the monotony of cornfields. Okay, that
might be a personal opinion, but as a teenager I was always excited to go to
the kettle hole lakes dotting the landscape of northern Indiana, formed by
glaciers about 14,000 years ago. Going all the way up to Lake Michigan to
Indiana Dunes (established as a national park in 2019) was even better. Being
in the heartland of the U.S., crashing waves and rolling dunes felt like the
ocean. One recent visitor to the new park had the rather negative comment that
the “dunes are not that high.”
Author Share expresses her love for the parks, as well as her
love of art. She makes a career as an artist and illustrator, and was inspired
by these subpar reviews to make funny social media posts including her artwork.
Fortunately, the project caught the attention of other national park fans, as
well as rangers and other employees of the parks. This online project turned
into this book, currently available on Tennessee READS as an ebook.
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