The Amazon: A Young Reader's Look at the Last Frontier [Library Binding]

Peter Lourie (Author), Marcos Santilli (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up

Dramatic full-color photographs illustrate this fascinating firsthand account of a journey through the Brazilian state of Rondonia, the heart of the Amazon. Along the way readers meet Indians, rubber tappers, and gold miners, and get a unique look at the endangered Amazon rain forest and the people who call it home. Full-color photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ecology-minded youngsters have reason to cheer of late, with the increasing number of titles (such as this one) that examine various endangered habitats of the earth. Loosely structured as a travelogue, this first-person account describes the author's trip to the heart of the Amazon basin. He encounters a world in flux, where human colonization threatens to decimate the jungle and its countless natural resources. Lourie demonstrates how the culture and way of life of a region's people is determined by the environment: seasoned Amazon settlers and Indians harmoniously fish, tap latex from rubber trees and pan for gold in the river, while colonists new to the area destructively burn the rain forest to create open land for farming. Unfortunately, his book lacks immediacy and focus. Lourie's tone is more maudlin than passionate, and his frequent digressions and changes in tense prove confusing. Santilli's photographs fail to breathe much life into the expedition; his subjects--often shot from a great distance--have a dusty, filtered look. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-6-- From the first scene of a hazy sunrise over a placid tributary of the Amazon River, the striking full-color photographs vividly evoke this place and its people. Lourie's narrative is a personal account of a journey down the river that incorporates much factual detail. Not intended as a comprehensive overview, the representative incidents give insight into the variety of life found along the Amazon. The author relates how, as one of the world's largest producers of gold, Brazil is degrading the river's ecosystem by introducing deadly mercury, which is used in panning for the precious element. The chapter on the Indians describes and illustrates the children as they play, swim, and fish using a natural poison to stun the day's catch. Chain saws and fires are shown to be ripping apart the jungle, and when it goes, readers are told, so will this way of life. The photographs of the fires are haunting, and the entire book creates an indelible picture of this endangered system. There is no index, but there are helpful chapter headings. --Frances E. Millhouser, Reston Regional Library, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Library Binding: 46 pages
• Publisher: Boyds Mills Pr; 1st edition (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878093002
• ISBN-13: 978-1878093004
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,992,562 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Lourie was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and grew up in New England, Ontario, Canada, and New York City. He holds a BA in classics from New York University, an MA in English Literature from the University of Maine, and an MFA in nonfiction creative writing from Columbia University. He has taught writing for many years (Middlebury College, Columbia College, University of Vermont), and now makes his living traveling, writing and photographing. He also visits schools to share his adventures with students and teachers. He lives in Vermont where he is now working on an ongoing NSF-funded digital story-telling project about the Arctic, and a book about the Leakey family on Lake Turkana, Kenya.

http://peterlourie.com
http://peterlourie.com/bio/index.htm
http://arcticstories.net

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the amazon review, April 29, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Amazon: A Young Reader's Look at the Last Frontier (River) (Paperback)

This book is a beautifully illustrated, fun, and interesting book. The pictures are so amazing and it feels like I am really there, (or wish that I was there). This book is a educational book because it has maps that show where the author, Peter Lourie, went when he was exploring. It tells what cities are there, and also where the bodies of water are. This is a fun book because the author, Peter Lourie, gives wonderful writing like this:
Now as we left the tribal outpost and headed back the way we had come, we glided down river with the soft, slow, ancient current.
An interesting part was when the Indians put the poison in the water where the fish would swim and it would be easier to catch the fish.

This is why this book is the best!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MY SONS, 14 AND 12 LOVED READING THIS BOOK., December 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Amazon: A Young Reader's Look at the Last Frontier (River) (Paperback)

I have two step-sons, ages 14 and 12. They are not avid readersbut were fascinated by this book. We are planning a trip to Brazil andamong the books I suggested for them was this one. I picked it up at on a recent trip to New York. My kids found it a great adventure book and motivated them even more to want to visit brazil.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GOOD BOOK FOR THE YOUNG READER ON THE AMAZON, November 23, 2005

By 

Denis Benchimol Minev "Amazonia" (Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Amazon: A Young Reader's Look at the Last Frontier (River) (Paperback)

This book is aimed at giving a brief picture of the Amazon to a young reader. It focuses on a few aspects, such as: the indians living in the Amazon, the gold rush around the southern Amazon, the river and its dolphins, and the rubber boom and the railroad built to transport rubber.

The book is written as a travelogue, describing the author's trip chronologically. It is simplistic, of course, as any book for children should be, but it provides some vivid pictures of the region. About half of the pictures are very good, the rest should have been reconsidered.

My main criticism is that he associates the colonists as being evil doers destroying the forest; it is hardly ever an evil vs good fight. Anyways, I would recommend it especially to a family with children planning a trip to the Amazon as a way to wet the appetite.