Prairie Dog Song: The Key to Saving North America's Grasslands
by Susan L Roth (Author) Susan L Roth (Illustrator)
Focusing on the role of prairie dogs as a keystone species, this book tells the connected histories of the North American grassland prairies and current efforts to preserve and recover the Janos grasslands in northern Mexico.
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.
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Publishers Weekly
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. Ages 6-11. (May)
Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
Gr 1-3--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.--Frances E. Millhouser, formerly with Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Susan L. Roth's vibrant, unique, mixed-media collage illustrations have appeared in numerous outstanding picture books, including Parrots Over Puerto Rico, winner of the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal; Prairie Dog Song; The Mangrove Tree; Every Month Is a New Year, Malala Yousafzai: Warrior with Words, and most recently Butterfly for a King. Roth and her husband live in New York. Visit her online at susanlroth.com.
Cindy Trumbore has been involved with young people's literature for most of her career. A former editor in children's book publishing, she now writes children's books, edits books for classrooms, and teaches writing. She has collaborated with her friend Susan L. Roth on several award-winning titles, including Parrots Over Puerto Rico, which won the Robert F. Sibert Medal for Nonfiction; The Mangrove Tree; Prairie Dog Song, and most recently Butterfly for a King. She lives with her husband in Delaware. You can visit her online at cindykane.net.
JNF003000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Animals | General
Songs
Prairie dogs
Grassland animals
Grassland ecology
