Jon Van ZyleRecensioni

Animal

I accidentally read this out of order with its sequel, The Seasons of Little Wolf. It might have worked a little better the other way around.

Anyhow, the art is fine, but the text reads like bad nature documentary narration. It really ruins the mood for me.

There are some nice moments of the day-to-day life of wolf pups, but the prose is overwrought even in those small moments, and goes way over the top when a little dramatic moment is thrown in at the end to make it seem like there is a story. The art is fine when it comes to the animals, but the artistic license taken with the size and color of the moon is just whackadoodle.

But wait? This is a sequel to the book I randomly chose to read next in the wolf picture book project, The Eyes of Gray Wolf? I did not know that going in.

The story is about a sow that meets a boar and later has a cub (Lightfoot) in her winter den. The author follows Lightfoot’s journey into adulthood through very fantastic and detailed paintings and depicts the struggles and triumphs the cub must face to survive the wilderness.

Jonathan London book about the birth and travels of a baby sperm whale is an excellent informational book for preschool age children. The language is specific and factual, and still easy to read and understand. The language includes new vocabulary and follows a nice rhythm throughout the book. It also has fantastic life like illustrations of the sperm whales and other oceanic creates in the story. At the end of the story in the afterword it gives the reader more specific facts about the whales and a guide for teachers to use to help ensure that the readers receive the full benefit and knowledge that the story has to offer.

Learn about the small but mighty ptarmigan! How they migrate and how they return to their homes.

SOURCE: Pierce College Library ECE collection
AGES: 3-6

Summary: This is a story about a Puffin family and the growth of their Puffin baby until it has its first flight.

Non-Fiction: Picturebook
Miller, Debbie The Great Serum Race. Illust. by Jon Van Zyle. Walker & Co., 2002. Unp. Middle school
In the winter of 1925, Nome, Alaska, was struck by an outbreak of diphtheria. The only cure was the antitoxin serum located in Anchorage. As the only way to get it to Nome was by dogsled, twenty teams travelled for 600 miles in six days in a brutal relay race. Some of the dogs, including Togo and Balto, became heroes. This event is commemorated every March with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Told in the third person point of view, this informative, heartwarming story has an historical survival theme.
Jon Van Zyle’s wonderful oil paintings depict the extreme conditions and beauty of the land.
AK: Nome, Anchorage, Sled Dogs, Iditarod, Alaskan places and history
Activities: This would be a great book to read in class right before the Iditarod Race starts in the spring. Have the students follow the teams and their route on a large classroom map for the duration of the race. Ask them how it is different today than it was for those early dogs and mushers.

good story, great information at end of book

This is a realistic fiction story about a young wolf. This wolf first opens up it's eyes then begins to move outside of the den where it has been living. The young wolf seeks out "play" with it's siblings and receives food from it's mother. The young wolf experiences its first big hunt and is injured by it's prey. However, it wakes up and seeks to have a good hunt in the mountains where it calls home.

The story about a baby whale and how it adapts to life with its mother.

The Great Serum Race is a historical perspective of the first Iditarod run. Nome, Alaska experienced a diphtheria outbreak during the winter of 1925. Anchorage, Alaska was the only city with the needed anti-toxin serum needed to help lift the quarantine. Twenty mushing teams were gathered to bring the serum in the blizzard subzero conditions over 600 miles. The relay race was completed in 6 days, which is commemorated every year in March, by the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race.

I loved the illustrations for the book. They were full page illustrations, which helps progress the story. The paintings portray the native Alaskans, and the Northern Lights well. These can be things readers are not familiar with. The pictures helped display weather conditions, and even made me feel cold as a reader.

The story itself presented the story simply. The language was not too complicated. I found I wanted to get through the story to see if the town of Nome was able to get the serum. Especially since the temperatures were so extremely low, and the package had been lost.

The main theme of the book was to give a background and the significance of the first Iditarod.

Amazing, almost photo-like illustrations.
Story about a mother bear and her cub.

In this book it shows the journey a lone gray wolf and its search for a mate and a pack to call its own. Book Review
3-5 years
Pierce College Library