Fishing (America at Work) [Hardcover]

Ann Love (Author), Jane Drake (Author), Pat Cupples (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1997 | Age Level: 7 and up | Series: America at Work

Part of the America at Work series, Fishing explains how fish farmers in Maine raise salmon and halibut, and traces the fascinating life journey of a wild salmon in Alaska. Combining fact and fiction with colorful illustrations, this book delivers an early lesson in appreciating and protecting our natural resources. Fishing introduces young children to the people, machines and environmental concerns involved in some of America's leading resource-based industries. (199910)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Grade 2-4-In Mining, Trish and Jamie's upcoming hockey tournament prompts their parents to show them how the steel blades for ice skates are made. First they take a tour of mom's workplace, an underground mine shaft, and then of the steel mill where dad works. There, the children see how ore is changed into various usable metals, including stainless steel. The processes used to mine ore and fuels are discussed, as is what is being done to reclaim mining wastelands. In Fishing, Grandpa takes his granddaughter to his fish farm on the Maine coast. Readers learn about large trawlers that use underwater nets to catch fish as well as how they are hatched, grown, and sold. The girl then travels back to the West coast where her father, a fish and wildlife officer, describes his job and gives her a tour of nearby streams and rivers. Environmental issues such as overfishing are also discussed. While Drake and Love have chosen subjects and a format reminiscent of those by Gail Gibbons, the smaller text size, detailed explanations, and terminology in these two books are better suited to slightly older readers. The labeled pictures help younger children to follow along. These entries are colorful, descriptive, and detailed; the cheerful watercolor illustrations make otherwise dry subjects interesting.
Kit Vaughan, J. B. Watkins Elementary School, Midlothian, VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

In the America at Work series, Drake and Love (Forestry, 1998, etc.) offer an overview of two US fisheries, one in Maine and the other in Alaska, as experienced through the eyes of a young girl, Jessie, who travels from her Alaska home to visit her Down East grandfather. The principal catch in each locale is salmon, but the text explains that past fishing practices have radically altered traditional methods of harvest. Heavy over-fishing has reduced the Maine salmon fishery to fish farming, which is what Jessie's grandfather introduces her to. He takes her through the process of raising salmon, and also shows her experimental work in raising halibut. When Jessie returns home, her father, who is state fisheries officer, talks to her about the wild salmon fisheries still found in Alaska, and the ideal elements necessary for prime fish habitat. It is his job to protect that habitat and insure the salmon are not over-harvested as they were on the East Coast. Although the tone of the book is wincingly didactic, for the most part the information is doled out in manageable quantities, and the crystal-clear, full-color artwork leaves no doubt about the difference between a gillnetter and a seiner, a trawler and a longliner. (Picture book. 7-10) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Kids Can Press (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550744577
• ISBN-13: 978-1550744576
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,887,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)