Bay Shore Park: The Death and Life of an Amusement Park [Hardcover]

Victoria Crenson (Author), Bryn Barnard (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1995 | Age Level: 7 and up

Examines the history of an amusement park on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore, Maryland, USA: it opened at the turn of the century, but, in 1947, it was bought by a steel company, closed and all but a few structures demolished. The land was never built upon and nature took over.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-4?Bay Shore Park, an amusement park on the upper Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, was purchased and demolished by a steel company in 1947 after almost 50 years of operation. The gates were locked to humans, but Mother Nature continued frolicking and over the next decades the land was reclaimed by flora and fauna. Lush illustrations and text record the changes over time, until old Bay Shore and the adjacent marsh are bought as public land and the "cleaning up" of the natural intruders completes the cycle, allowing people to once again enter the area. The small print may hinder younger readers but as a read-aloud this book may make children aware of the indomitable forces of nature.?Eva Elisabeth Von Ancken, Trinity Pawling School, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 3^-5. Ecological succession is the subject of this intriguing natural history book. Bay Shore Park was founded in 1906 as an amusement park on upper Chesapeake Bay. For 41 years it entertained crowds before closing its gates in 1947. In brief chapters arranged chronologically, Crenson shows how different plants and animals reclaimed their share of the park. First, the seeds of milkweed, thistle, dandelion, and other weeds arrived to fill up cracks in the walkways. Butterflies and other insects followed to suck on the plants' juices and eat their leaves. White-footed mice came to gather the plant seeds, and foxes followed to hunt the mice. Little by little, the park became home to a variety of living things and burst forth with new dramas of life and death. Crenson carries the story to the present day, when Bay Shore Park is once again public land and new plans for it are being debated. The graceful, informative text is lavishly illustrated with detailed watercolors and black-and-white drawings. An excellent--and unique--addition to ecology collections. Leone McDermott

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: W H Freeman & Co (Sd) (March 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0716765802
• ISBN-13: 978-0716765806
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,142,335 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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