Local Author Publishes a Meadowlands Picture Book

The desire to learn more about the New Jersey Meadowlands, the 30.4 square miles of wetlands that surround the Hackensack River, spurred one Hoboken author to learn more about the place made famous by its past pollution and present ecological renaissance.

When Thomas F. Yezerski first moved to New Jersey 12 years ago, he routinely commuted from his then home of Rutherford, N.J., to Hoboken via train, passing through the Meadowlands.

“I was struck by how strange everything was,” he said. “All the highways and the railroads and industry and in the middle of it is this marsh and all these weird kinds of wetland kind of places. I was just really curious about it, and the more I learned about it the more interested I got.”

Yezerski, an author and illustrator who moved to Hoboken three years ago, spent 10 years researching the topic. He started at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission (NJMC), the state agency that oversees the area, and went on one of their pontoon boat rides. He continued to tour and research the wetlands, often documenting them with photographs.

After condensing 500 pages of notes into a 32-page picture book, Yezerski’s book “Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story” was released in March with praise from many, including the New York Times.

“I just really love this place and I’m really proud of how people who live here took this wasteland that everybody made fun of and turned it into something special,” said Yezerski.

On Saturday, June 25, he previewed the book to an audience of children and parents at the NJMC’s Meadowlands Environment Center in DeKorte Park of Lyndhurst. Yezerski hoped that the free talk, along with the book, would make children realize their own integral role in the local ecosystem.

“[I learned] about the ducks, about nature, and about polluting,” said Sophia Robertson, of Lyndhurst, one young attendee at the event.

Yezerski spent time learning about the same topics, even spending time on the NJMC’s tours and classes for children so that his book would be about all of the things that kids are interested in.

The book has large watercolor illustrations of the area from a variety of vantage points. Surrounding each one is a sort of image bank, visually describing important facts about the Meadowlands. Yezerski explains that this allows children of all ages, even adults, to read the book on different levels.

Hoboken residents interested in reading the book can find it at the Hoboken Public Library.

“I think a lot of people in Hoboken don’t know a lot about the Meadowlands; because it is over the Palisades ridge, they don’t necessarily see it every day,” said Yezerski. “I’m sure a lot of people go to Giants games, and that’s right smack in the middle of the Meadowlands right there.”

While Hoboken is not a part of the Meadowlands, the area does abut several other Hudson County towns and is an important parcel of open space for North Jersey as a whole, said Yezerski.

Yezerski, who lives in town with his wife, said many of his neighbors have found the book to be “cool.” 

When not exploring the Meadowlands, he can often be found walking around Hoboken. “We love it here,” said Yezerski.  

He's currently illustrating books for other authors and working on another original work. While he won’t say what it's about yet, he said that other New Jersey ideas are certainly on the drawing board.