Crawdad Creek [Paperback]

Scott Russell Sanders (Author), Robert Hynes (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

There's always something happening at Crawdad Creek. That's what Lizzie and Michael call the stream that runs behind their house. Come pan for gold, hunt for fossils, find and arrowhead in the mud or a crayfish under a stone. Watch whirligig beetles and water striders skate across the water, teasing the fish below, and count the turtles sunning themselves on moss-covered logs. Follow tracks along the bank, then sit in quiet amazement as deer, raccoons, and other animals visit the creek. There's a wild and beautiful world here awaiting to be discovered. Take the time to look!

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3-"Come discover the treasures of Crawdad Creek," invites the author in this reminiscent look at the infinite fascination and variety of experiences found in a summer by a creek. In a loosely descriptive narrative, Elizabeth shares the discoveries she and her brother make. The beautiful illustrations are executed with acrylics using a watercolor technique, and immerse readers in a delicately lovely and watery childhood world. Framing the text at beginning and end are two winter scenes of the creek, and the cover shows it in the fall, which provokes mild speculation as to why all four seasons were not addressed in the text. However, the book fulfills its stated purpose of bringing readers' attention to the wonders of the out-of-doors and should inspire immediate explorations of the nearest body of water available.
Judith Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Sanders (A Place Called Freedom, 1997, etc.) describes, from season to season, the animals that live in and around a creek, as observed by Michael and Elizabeth. They planned to pan for gold, but find instead fossils of worms and shelled animals that lived millions of years ago, an Indian arrowhead, and a wealth of wildlife to study and enjoy, including crawdads, the rosy salamander, catfish, damselfly, whirligig beetles, slider turtles, muskrat, raccoon, and deer. Hynes, in contrast with the rolling, reflective text, uses close-ups and distant shots to establish what the children are seeing, where they are, and the beauty of their natural surroundings. Readers see the creek through Elizabeth's legs, spy the arrowhead as Michael's hand comes down to grab it, and watch over the tops of the children's heads as they pan for gold. Evocative. (Picture book. 8-10) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic Children's Books (August 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792264924
• ISBN-13: 978-0792264927
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.1 x 10.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,526,854 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Come Discover the Treasures of Crawdad Creek", April 3, 2000

By 

"hmschool" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crawdad Creek (Hardcover)

"Come discover the treasures of Crawdad Creek" - that is what it says on the back of the dust jacket. It is a simple invitation, but it opens up a wonderful world to children.

With today's busy schedules, kids don't have time to just be kids. This book is a reminder of the treasures to be found in the world around us and that we need to let children have the freedom to explore it.

The story is sweet and fun, but the beautiful illustrations are what make this book truly remarkable.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Instant Favorite!, May 23, 2009

By 

Bookworm Mom "Dani B" (Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Crawdad Creek (Paperback)

What wonderful book! I bought this book to use for homeschooling my boys ages 4 & 8. We were doing a unit study on creeks and ponds. What I had hoped would be a fun, interesting read turned into so much more! We all fell in love with the amazing illustrations and rhythmic text. You almost feel like you are right there with the characters catching crawdads and finding fossils. Great for any home library.

If you are homeschooling, this book offers a lot of opportunities to tie in grammar lessons like simile and personification. The vocabulary is outstanding also. I ended up using this book as my spine and working everything else around it. There are so many different things mentioned that you could easily spend a month or more going in depth with topics from Native Americans and arrowheads to salamanders and frogs and lifecycles to plant life and ecology.

This book is my new favorite gift to give for birthdays also.

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely beautiful book about what can be learned from nature, May 18, 2010

By 

Nonfiction (Boston) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Crawdad Creek (Paperback)

This is a gorgeous book--the illustrations are just marvelous. The writing is also fantastic which is unfortunately not always the case in kids nature books. There is great use of metaphor and simile. The book also gives examples of the children learning about history and biology/ecology from their explorations of the creek. This is a fantastic book for educating both kids who have lots of exposure to nature and kids bringing nature to kids who don't have a lot of access to it. It gives great examples of the kids learning from both talking with their parents and looking up things they don't know--basically teaches how to learn. It also depicts a nice sibling relationship. My 3 year old is completely enthralled by it and I think it could easily be used with older kids as well. I am surprised this book hasn't won some type of children's lit award.