Prairie Dog Song: The Key to Saving North America's Grasslands - Hardcover

Susan L Roth; Cindy Trumbore

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1620142457 ISBN 13: 9781620142455

Publisher: Lee & Low Books, 2016

Synopsis

For thousands of years, green and gold grasses covered North America from Canada to Mexico. The prairie and desert grasslands were home to a variety of animals, from small prairie dogs to huge bison. But in the nineteenth century, ranching and farming took hold in the grasslands, and over time many of the animals and plants vanished.

Then, in the late 1980s, scientists discovered a region in Mexico where green and gold grasses still waved and prairie dogs still barked. The scientists understood the importance of this grassland ecosystem and the prairie dogs' key role in it. Could they now preserve the area and bring back its lost animals and plants?

This moving nonfiction tale of environmental recovery builds on the success of the acclaimed Parrots Over Puerto Rico and The Mangrove Tree. Cumulative song text plus prose passages combine to celebrate North America s grasslands, their iconic prairie dogs, and the dedicated scientists who work to make the grasslands healthy again. Comprehensive backmatter makes this book perfect for classroom use, with text that hits both Science and Social Studies Common Core Standards. Teacher s Guide available at leeandlow.com."

About this title

About the Author:

SUSAN L. ROTH's unique mixed-media collage illustrations have appeared in numerous award-winning children s books, many of which she also wrote. Her book Parrots Over Puerto Rico won the Robert F. Sibert Medal for Nonfiction from the American Library Association. About the illustrations for this book Roth says, "I cut blade after blade of grass to fill the prairies. I guess I cut about fifty billion!"Roth lives in New York.

CINDY TRUMBORE, a longtime collaborator with Susan L. Roth, writes and edits children's books and classroom materials. "You know you are a real nonfiction writer when you ve been chased away from a prairie dog town by an angry cow," says Trumbore. Her book Parrots Over Puerto Rico won the Robert F. Sibert Medal for Nonfiction from the American Library Association.She lives in New Jersey.

Review:

Following their Sibert Award-winning Parrots Over Puerto Rico, Roth and Trumbore turn to prairie dogs. Each double-page spread includes a collage, a verse from a cumulative song based on "And the Green Grass Grew All Around," and text detailing the evolving history and ecological significance of prairie dogs in North America. The clever layout makes this a book that can grow with its readers. For little ones, the large-print words of the song can be used along with the amazing artwork; older readers can move on to the highly informative, engaging narrative. The song teaches succinctly about the biodiversity of the prairie habitat before farmers and ranchers, the near-extinction of the entire habitat, and the return to biodiversity once the importance of the prairie dogs was recognized. In flowing, conversational language, the text for older readers includes such subjects as 19th-century, government-sanctioned prairie dog poisoning and how, in 1988, the prairie dog was finally recognized as a keystone species one on which an entire ecosystem depends. The ongoing tale is uplifting, as individual people, organizations, and, finally, the government of Mexico have helped to bring back both the prairie dog and the prairie. [T]he entire book is a worthy work of science-and-arts integration. An inspiration. --Kirkus Reviews, starred review

Roth and Trumbore, the team behind Parrots Over Puerto Rico and The Mangrove Tree, adapt the song And the Green Grass Grew All Around in an inspiring environmental comeback story. Early spreads introduce the prairie dogs, owls, bison, and eagles that made their home in the prairies of northern Mexico, until ranchers and farmers turned the grasslands to desert ( And over time/ Mesquite moved in,/ With the longest roots/ That you ever did see ). As locals attempt to restore the grasslands, supplemental paragraphs offer extensive information about the process and animals (as does a substantial afterword). Roth s meticulously crafted collages create sweeping, gorgeously detailed panoramas of a delicate landscape in flux. --Publishers Weekly, starred review,/b>

The North American prairie, a balanced ecosystem of prairie dogs and other animals and plants, thrived for thousands of years. Yet within 60 years of the arrival of farmers and ranchers, it was almost destroyed. The discovery of a remnant prairie in the late 1980s enabled the reintroduction of the black-tailed prairie dog and created an environmental recovery celebrated here in verses sung to the tune of ?The Green Grass Grew All Around.? The song is printed in black above informative paragraphs in a smaller orange font that almost fades into the background. Beautiful double-page collages illustrate the prairie dogs, their predators, and the species that benefit from their burrows. These detailed visuals invite readers to linger over the pages and search through myriad multicolored blades of prairie grass. Color photographs accompany a one-page list of facts, a multiple-page time line, an extensive glossary and pronunciation guide, and a list of the authors? sources. VERDICT This heartening success story is entertaining to sing along to and a valuable, beautiful resource. --School Library Journal, starred review

About this edition

• Publisher: Lee & Low Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1620142457
• ISBN 13: 9781620142455
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40
• Illustrator: Susan L Roth