In the following collection of books, geology, ecology, and human
impact on river systems are emphasized. Two fine books by Holling
Clancy Holling chronicle journeys down rivers by a turtle and
a wooden figure in a canoe. Real-life stories focusing on pollution
of the Nashua River and at Love Canal are also featured. Many
other fine books, from the classic fantasy of Wind in the Willows
to the light-giving river of the Afro-American story called The
River That Gave Gifts, can provide creative and imaginative connections
to these river-related GEMS activities. Books that focus on erosion
or its consequences, as well as those that relate to models and
simulations could likewise make strong connections. Were
sure you and your students will add your own favorites.
Abels Island
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Biography of a River: The Living Mississippi
Danny Dunn and the Universal Glue
Drylongso
The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo: An Ecological
Mystery
Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean
Love Canal: My Story
Minn of the Mississippi
An Oak Tree Dies and a Journey Begins
Our Endangered Planet: Rivers and Lakes
Paddle-to-the-Sea
Rain of Troubles: The Science and Politics of
Acid Rain
A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History
The River That Gave Gifts: An Afro-American
Story
Sierra
Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe
The Wind in the Willows
Abels Island
by William Steig
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York. 1976
Grades: 35
Abel is an urban mouse who suddenly finds himself on an uninhabited
island trying to survive. He discovers skills and talents in himself
that help him think of ways to forage for food, cross the river,
and return home. Abels time on the island brings him a new
understanding of the world from which hes separated as he
re-examines the easy way of life he had previously accepted.
Return to titles list.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
by Mark Twain
Viking Penguin, New York. 1953
Grades: 6Adult
A boy and a runaway slave start down the Mississippi on a
borrowed raft in this exciting and sometimes dangerous trip. The
mighty Mississippi courses through much of Twains work,
even in his famous pen-name itself (from a riverboat working command).
While the language and dialect reflect their time and can be discussed
in class, Twains essential humanity comes through. This
classic is available from many different publishers.
Return to titles list.
Biography of a River: The Living Mississippi
by Edith McCall
Walker and Co., New York. 1990
Grades: 612
This extensive biography for older students details
the history of human interactions with the Mississippi River.
It begins with a chapter on Native American settlements, followed
by European expeditions and acquisition by the United States,
up through the engineering projects of the present. The first
chapter in which the river speaks in the first person
is particularly effective. Its discussion of engineering challenges
relates directly to the dam building challenges of Session 6.
The emphasis, throughout, on the living nature of
the river underlines an important environmental lesson.
Return to titles list.
Danny Dunn and the Universal Glue
by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin; illustrated by Paul
Sagsoorian
McGraw-Hill, New York. 1977
Out of print
Grades: 49
Danny and his friends bring evidence to a town meeting that
waste from a local factory is polluting the local stream. A discussion
of watersheds, water tables, and the way the pollution moved through
the system of streams (on page 85) relates well to Sessions 6
and 7 of the GEMS guide.
Return to titles list.
Drylongso
by Virginia Hamilton; illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, San Diego. 1992
Grades: 26
This strikingly illustrated book takes a powerful look at
what happens when rivers dry upa contrast to the flowing
rivers the children create in River Cutters. An unknown boy blows
into a village with a severe dust storm, and tells the villagers
his name is Drylongso. He tells them that he was born in a time
of great drought, but that his mother told him wherever he goes
life will grow better. Drylongso has special information
about drought cycles, agriculture, and ways to survive; he carries
a dowser, or divining rod. He finds water beneath
the ground to help a familys planting, then disappears as
mysteriously as he came. There is excellent information on climate,
drought, drought cycles, and soil conditions.
Return to titles list.
Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean
by Arthur Dorros
HarperCollins, New York. 1991
Grades: K4
This book recounts waters journey as it shapes the earth
through erosion. The course of water is traced as it flows from
brooks to streams to rivers, over waterfalls, through canyons
and dams, to eventually reach the ocean.
Return to titles list.
Love Canal: My Story
by Lois M. Gibbs
State University of New York at Albany Press, Albany, New York.
1982
Out of print
Grades: 612
Autobiography of the housewife who organized a neighborhood
association that eventually resulted in a clean up of the Love
Canal toxic waste site and relocation of the families living there.
She went on to form the Citizens Clearinghouse for Hazardous
Waste based in Arlington, Virginia.
Return to titles list.
Minn of the Mississippi
by Holling Clancy Holling
Houghton Mifflin, Boston. 1951
Grades: 612
The journey of Minn, a snapping turtle, is followed from northern
Minnesota to the bayous of Louisiana. Her adventures with people,
animals, and the changing seasons are vividly described. Wonderful
drawings and maps of her travels accompany the engaging true-life
story on the Mississippi River. Newbery honor book.
Return to titles list.
The Missing Gator of Gumbo Limbo:
An Ecological Mystery
by Jean C. George
HarperCollins, New York. 1992
Grades: 47
Sixth-grader Liza K and her mother live in a tent in the Florida
Everglades. She becomes a nature detective while searching for
Dajun, a giant alligator who plays a part in a waterholes
oxygen-algae cycle, and is marked for extinction by local officials.
The book is full of detail about the local habitats and species
and the forces that impact on them. Look how Mother Natures
plan for the Everglades has been tortured and diverted...the Everglades,
which is really a slow river, is so rich with soil and nutrients
that the Army Corps of Engineers was engaged to drain it for farmland...
Her neighbor explains how canals were built, fish and birds died,
and the river changed. You change one thing and you change
the whole ecosystem.
Return to titles list.
An Oak Tree Dies and a Journey Begins
by Louanne Norris and Howard E. Smith, Jr.; illustrated by
Allen Davis
Crown, New York. 1979
Out of print
Grades: 35
A storm uproots an old oak tree on the bank of a river and
its journey to the sea begins. Animals seek shelter in the log,
children fish from it, mussels attach to its side. The tree, even
after it dies, contributes to the environment. Older students
can appreciate the fine pen and ink drawings.
Return to titles list.
Our Endangered Planet: Rivers and Lakes
by Mary Hoff and Mary M. Rogers
Lerner Publications, Minneapolis. 1991
Grades: 49
An attractive and user-friendly reference book covering the
dangers of surface water pollution with many illustrations and
photographs. Other relevant titles in this series (all published
in 1991) include: Groundwater, Population Growth, and Tropical
Rain Forests.
Return to titles list.
Paddle-to-the-Sea
by Holling Clancy Holling
Houghton Mifflin, Boston. 1941
Grades: 69
A Native American boy carves a wooden figure in a canoe and
sets it afloat near the headwaters of a river north of the Great
Lakes. This book chronicles the canoes four-year journey
to the sea. Caldecott honor book. (A detailed review of this book
is on page 228.)
Return to titles list.
Rain of Troubles:
The Science and Politics of Acid Rain
by Lawrence Pringle
Macmillan, New York. 1988
Grades: 512
Acid rains discovery, formation, transportation, its
effects on plant and animal life, and how economic and political
forces have delayed action are discussed. The negative impact
of acid rain on lakes and rivers can also be related to the toxic
waste modeling activities in Session 7 of the GEMS activities.
Return to titles list.
A River Ran Wild:
An Environmental History
by Lynne Cherry
Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, San Diego. 1992
Grades: 15
True story of the Nashua River Valley in North-Central Massachusetts
from the time that the Native Americans settled there, naming
it River With the Pebbled Bottom. The book traces the impact of
the industrial revolution on the river and the eventual clean-up
campaign mounted by a local watershed association. The graphic
borders are packed with historical information, showing the original
wildlife, tools and utensils used by Native Americans and early
settlers, and continuing on to modern artifacts such as a plastic
water jug.
Return to titles list.
The River That Gave Gifts:
An Afro-American Story
by Margo Humphrey
Childrens Book Press, San Francisco. 1987
Grades: K5
Four children in an African village make gifts for wise old
Neema while she still has partial vision. Yanava, who is not good
at making things, does not know what to give, and seeks inspiration
from the river. As she washes her hands in the river, rays of
light fly off her fingers, changing into colors and forming a
rainbow. After all the other gifts are presented, she rubs her
hands in the jar of river water she has brought and thus gives
a rainbow of light and the gift of sight to Neema. In addition
to the themes of respect for elders and the validity of different
kinds of achievement, the river is portrayed as a primeval source
of power.
Return to titles list.
Sierra
by Diane Siebert; illustrated by Wendell Minor
HarperCollins, New York. 1991
Grades: 48
Long narrative poem in the voice of a mountain in the Sierra
Nevada. It begins and ends with the lines:
I am the mountain
Tall and grand
And like a sentinel I stand.
Dynamic verse and glorious mural-like colored illustrations depict
the forces shaping the earth as well as the plant, animal, and
human roles in this ecosystem.
Return to titles list.
Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe
by Vera B. Williams
Greenwillow/William Morrow, New York. 1981
Grades: 36
Mom, Aunt Rosie, and two children on a three-day camping trip
by canoe, encounter currents, wild winds, a rainbow, a moose,
and more. In Session 4 of the GEMS guide, your students, like
the children in the canoe, take careful note of the characteristics
of the river they create.
Return to titles list.
The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame; illustrated by Ernest Shepard
Aerie Books, New York. 1988
Grades: 4Adult
This wonderful, humorous classic, filled with the bustling
lives of eccentric animal characters, takes place along a river.
The scenic descriptions accurately reflect the habitats of each
animal. While the book is often read out loud to younger children,
the pace and comic timing of the conversations makes it highly
entertaining for adults.
Return to titles list.
|
|