The Buffalo Are Back by Jean Craighead George and Wendell Minor

George, J. C., & Minor, W. (2010). The Buffalo Are Back. New York: Dutton Children's Books. ISBN: 978-1430109785.

Annotation

Jean Craighead George’s picture book that details the almost eradication of the buffalo and how that effected the plains Indians and the near destruction of the Great Plains environment.

My thoughts

"In the mid-1800s seventy five million buffalo roamed in North America. In little more than fifty years, there would be almost none." “What happened? The answer is a story of the American Indians, the buffalo, and the grass.”

In The Buffalo Are Back, Jean Craighead George (Julie of the Wolves and The Wolves Are Back) explains in detail the historical events that lead these majestic animals to the edge of extinction. In a very clear narration, the reader is taken back through an eco-history of the Great Plains. The journey begins in the 1800s with the birth of a single orange buffalo then tells the story of the Native Americans/Plains Indians, the white fur hunters, and westward expansion. In a mere fifty years, the Great Plains was an environmental disaster. 

This is a great book to use for discussing the environment and ecology. This is the story of not only the rescue of the buffalo and Great Plains but also the history of American Conservationism with a very important message.

Curricular connections

Subjects: History, Science/Ecology, Biology/Life Sciences, Science/ endangered species, History/environmental history, Biology/environmental issues.

Grade: 5-12

Literary devices

Use of Simile:

"A lark flew to the top of a six-foot blade of grass and sang as sweetly as a panpipe".

"The green-gold grasses of the plains rippled like waves from horizon to horizon.

Use of Repetition:

"A lark flew to the top of a six-foot blade of grass and sang as sweetly as a panpipe"(2). “A lark flew to a blade of grass and and as sweetly as a panpipe.” (17) "A lark flew to the top of a six-foot blade of grass and sang as sweetly as a panpipe." (27)

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 3 and up.

Reviews and Awards

Junior Library Guild Selection

Teacher’s Choice Award / Intermediate Readers, 2011

National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 2011 (Books published in 2010) Life Science division

Author website: http://www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com/

Illustrator website: www.minorart.com/

Media: Watercolors (based on photographs taken by Charlie Craighead and Thomas D. Mangelsen).

Genre: Nonfiction

Ubiquitous by Joyce Sidman and Beckie Prange

Sidman, J., & Prange, B. (2010). Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors. Boston [Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ISBN: 0618717196.

Annotation

Joyce Sidman combines poetry and science to examine some of the oldest living evolutionary survivors on Earth. Ubiquitous celebrates these survivors’ unique traits.

My thoughts

Ubiquitous means “somewhere that is (or seems to be) everywhere at the same time. Given that these species are prevalent and exist all over the world many of them are overlooked or assumed to be simple. This book reveals that these prevalent species are anything but simple. They are survivors for certain reasons and while this may seem mysterious, Joyce Sidman writes about some of the unique traits of these species that have made it easier for these species to survive.

This book highlights these special adaptive species and celebrates their unique traits for informational blocks, poetry, and detailed illustrations. Key pieces of information make this book interesting for children for example“…it is said that industrious squirrels plant more trees than humans do.” Crows have been “observed dropping large nuts at highway intersections so that passing cars will crack them open!” “Geckos can literally break their tail in two to escape from predators.”

The timeline in the beginning of the book is probably one of the better Earth timelines that I’ve seen for awhile. It really puts time into perspective. A mass of lines wind around each other like a giant fingerprint and spread across the inside cover and title page. For the scale, each centimeter represents one million years. It begins with Earth’s birth at 4.6 billion years. Humans, only come into the picture at the end of the timeline.

The prints are also creative and appropriate. Everything blends seamlessly.

 These are an impressive set of poems that tribute our planet’s survivors.

Curricular connections

Elementary school science- Biology

Students can reenact this timeline and bring their own timeline into the class using a 46 meters long string and cards to label the key events. Different colored string can be tied together to represent the different geologic periods.

Lesson Plan
See 'Lesson Plan' page

Literary devices

Use of Rhythm

First Life

(a diamante)

Bacteria

Ancient, tiny

Teeming, mixing, melding

Strands curled like ghostly hands

Winking, waving, waking

First, miraculous life

Use of Allusion

“… I am Sheath-wing, beloved of ancients. You have never seen armor like mine. As the sun-god rolls his blazing disk overheard, so I roll my perfect sphere of dung across the sands.” – Alluding to the Egyptians and the Sun-God Ra.

“Who swirled your whorls and ridges? Was it the shy gray wizard shuttered inside you? I hear he walks on one foot and wears a magic mantle, trailing stars. O shell, if only I could shrink! I’d climb your bristled back, slide down the spiral of your heart. I’d knock on your tiny door and ask to meet the mollusk that made you.”

Use of Sophisticated language

Adaptability, diamante, diverse, mutate, photosynthesis, prolific, organism, ubiquitous.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Age 6 and up.

Reviews and Awards

Awards and Honors: Starred reviews in Booklist, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Kirkus, Horn Book; Junior Library Guild Selection; Publisher's Weekly, Best Books of the Year; Washington Post, Best Books of the Year; Kirkus, Best Books of the Year; School Library Journal, Best Books of the Year; National Science Teachers Association/Children's Book Council, Outstanding Science Trade Books, K-12, 2011; Boston Globe, Top Ten Children's Books of 2010; New York Public Library's "100 Best Books"; Booklist, Top 10 Sci-Tech for Youth; Book Links, Lasting Connections for 2010; Finalist for the 2011 CYBILS Poetry Award; Association for Library Service to Children Notable Children's Book; The John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers

Author website: www.joycesidman.com/

Illustrator website: http://www.beckieprange.com/

Media: linocuts, hand-colored with watercolor

Genre: nonfiction, poetry

Remember: The Journey to School Integration by Toni Morrison

Morrison, Toni - author. (2004). Remember: The Journey to School Integration. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. ISBN: 978-0618397402

Annotation

Photographs taken during the period after segregated schools were declared unconstitutional that captures this important and difficult time of integration in American history.

My thoughts

These powerful photographs became Toni Morrison’s inspiration for the fictional narrative. These two elements, narrative and photographs, can actually be discussed as separate but equal in importance in the production of this book.

These archival photographs go a step beyond journalizing because they are so close to the subjects. These are not merely newspaper photos documenting the difficulties. They show the good and bad, and the façade of good. Photos of newly integrated students sitting together during a quaint circle time lesson are followed by photos of Caucasian teenagers protesting integration. A young boy wears a klan hood and smiles for the camera while watching a Ku Klux Klan cross burn. There are some disturbing truthful photographs that can be invaluable in a history/social studies class.

In addition, Toni Morrison provides the facts. Brown v. Board of Education is an important part of history, but the dry legal case name often causes history classes to simplify the lesson. The narrative and book will flesh it out. Morrison also includes a New York Times front-page announcement of the court decision and a key event timeline for civil rights and school integration history. Photo notes provide additional interesting facts. These are incredible, compelling, and unforgettable photographs and a very important time that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Curricular connections

Social Studies and Middle School History/civil rights.

Reading level/ Interest Age

Grade 4-12

Reviews and Awards

Coretta Scott King Award

Bccb Blue Ribbon Nonfiction Book Award (Awards)

Author website: www.tonimorrisonsociety.org/

Media: Photography

Genre: nonfiction, history

Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride: Based On A True Story by Pam Muñoz Ryan and Brian Selznick

Ryan, Pam Muñoz, and Brian Selznick. 1999. Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride: Based On A True Story. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN: 978-0590960755.

Annotation

Amelia, the famous aviator Amelia Earhart who was the first woman to fly the Atlantic Ocean; and Eleanor was Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States and committed activist for human rights take to the sky in this picture book based on a true incident.

My thoughts

It’s great to see a book about these two historically strong women doing things that were out of the social norm of their time. This story is based on the night of April 20, 1933 when Eleanor Roosevelt invited Amelia Earhart to the White House for dinner. During the dinner, Amelia was asked what it is like to fly at night. “Very few people in the whole world had ever flown at night, and Amelia was one of them.” The guests listen with closed eyes imagining the experience of flying at night. Eleanor asks about the view of the Capital at night and Amelia arranges for a ride on an Eastern Air Transport Plane (a Curtis Condor twin-motor airplane). Within an hour, the two women were up in the air experiencing a clear night’s view of the area between Baltimore and Washington D.C.

This little known true account revealed a spontaneous side of Eleanor Roosevelt and takes the reader back to a time when flying at night was a big deal. So many things have changed over the last century, but hopefully the feeling of being completely in awe of the stars remains the same. With Eleanor and Amelia’s bold personalities, and Selznick’s breathtaking illustrations, readers are inspired to take actions to make their own dreams to come true.

Focus on the Art

Brian Selznick’s pencil illustrations capture this bygone era by resembling old photographs and carry this story beautifully. The details have been carefully researched (actual China patterns, an Evening Star newspaper from Washington D.C. with factual headlines, furniture and fashions of the time period, etc.) In addition, there is a beautifully illustrated nighttime view of Washington D.C that captures the Capital dome and famous monuments.

Curricular connections

Grade 4-6: Social studies lesson with focus on Amelia Earhart and Eleanor Roosevelt and also the geography of the area described in the story.

Literary devices

Use of Metaphor: (p. 5) “Amelia and Eleanor were birds of a feather.”

Reading level/ Interest Age

Ages 5-9

Reviews and Awards

ALA Notable Children’s Book

Book Sense Book of the Year Finalist

Author website: http://www.pammunozryan.com/

Illustrator website: http://www.theinventionofhugocabret.com/

Media: Pencil on Paper

Genre: Juvenile picture books, nonfiction