Buffalo Music - Hardcover

Tracey E. Fern

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618723412 ISBN 13: 9780618723416

Publisher: Clarion Books, 2008

Synopsis

Beautifully told by Tracey Fern and warmly illustrated by Caldecott Honor winner Lauren Castillo, this is the story of one woman's quest to save the buffalo that once roamed the West. Based on the work of Mary Ann Goodnight, a pioneer credited with forming one of the first captive buffalo herds in the late 1800s and saving them from extinction. 

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Starred Review. Kindergarten-Grade 4—A story based on the actions of Mary Ann Goodnight, a pioneer who made great strides in saving the buffalo from extinction in the late 1800s. Molly's first-person narrative offers alliterative descriptions of the sounds made by animals native to her West Texas home, including the "huff-huff" of buffalo breath and the thunder of their pounding feet. Soon, this everyday music is replaced by the noise of gunfire, as hunters slaughter the creatures for profit. When a cowhand brings her two orphan calves, Molly nurtures them and many more, developing the first captive buffalo herd. She even sends several yearlings to Yellowstone National Park to help reestablish their herd. The story ends with Molly wistfully hoping that the buffalo and their music will return to the plains. Fern's lyrical text and Castillo's folk-style artwork beautifully capture the era and events. Done in warm, earthy hues, the mixed-media illustrations depict a rugged landscape of grays and browns speckled with touches of color-wildflowers or bright blooms on a tree. Outlined in thick black lines, the characters shimmer with vitality and Molly's affection for her fuzzy-coated orphans is tenderly depicted. Buffalo Music is perfectly suited to a young audience, clearly conveying the magnitude of the decimation and the importance of conservation efforts.—Lynne Mattern, Robert Seaman School, Jericho, NY
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From Booklist:

Like Joseph Bruchac’s Buffalo Song (2008), this picture book is based on the life of an early conservationist who helped save the buffalo from extinction. The story is told through the fictionalized viewpoint of Molly, a character based on Mary Ann Goodnight, who remembers hearing the huge buffalo herds when she and her husband first settled in the lonely Texas Panhandle in 1876. Then the shots of hunters fill the canyon, and within six seasons, the buffalo have nearly vanished. Molly raises two orphan calves. Cowhands bring her more, and she find herself fending off wolves and poachers and caring for her charges until they become one of five foundation herds in the U.S. The mixed-media illustrations, in thick black lines filled in with colored pencil, show Molly’s hardscrabble daily life; her stubborn resistance as settlers, fences, trains, and cattle crowd in; and her nurturing of calves in a world of slaughter. Preschool-Grade 2. --Hazel Rochman

About this edition

• Publisher: Clarion Books
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0618723412
• ISBN 13: 9780618723416
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Lauren Castillo