Go Wild in New York City [Hardcover]

Brad Matsen (Author), Paul Corio (Illustrator), Kate Lake (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2005 | Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up

How wild is New York City? Well, you can ride a subway car through giant cracks in the Earth. Watch monarch butterflies floating among skyscrapers on their annual trip from Mexico to Canada. Drink mountain rainwater piped a hundred miles through some of the world's biggest tunnels. Spy on horseshoe crabs (that showed up on Earth before the dinosaurs) as they crawl up to lay their eggs on city beaches every June. And all that's just for starters. This imaginative book introduces children to the bounty of the city & its earthly treasures -- the waterways, natural resources, & wildlife that bring it to life. Discover a side of New York City you never dreamed was there -- go wild! Illustrations.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-8–An eye-popping resource for any child curious about the state of the natural world in the Big Apple. Those who believe the city to be home only to squirrels, pigeons, rats, and the occasional cockroach will be astounded by the wide variety of life revealed within these pages. The book combines colorful illustrations and hundreds of photographs with a text that details everything from history to rock formations to the city's public gardens. Each chapter examines a different aspect of nature, spotting the text with sights of interest and ways in which readers can interact with the world around them. The book encourages environmental conservancy while dishing up little-known facts (such as the existence of rooftop beehives in Brooklyn) in an appealing format. Matsen turns cold, hard facts into riveting reading with apparent ease. The book will be of most interest to native New Yorkers, with a few aspects appealing to city dwellers and kids concerned about the environment elsewhere.–Elizabeth Bird, Jefferson Market Branch, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 4-6. Skippy the squirrel, a bagel-nibbling native New Yorker, leads this picture-book tour through New York City's "true wildness," with chapters that cover the area's water, rocks, air, plants, and animals as well as a closing section about food production and waste removal. Packed with color photographs, cartoons, diagrams, and numerous sidebars, the crowded spreads don't allow for much elaboration on such topics as the water cycle or the differences between cloud types. Still, there's an impressive array of basic science here, described mostly in accessible, enthusiastic text. Students will find enough to support reports, and the open format will attract browsers. Whatever the subject, the spreads remind young people that even a concrete jungle is a thriving natural habitat, with thousands of species, including the infamous cockroach, which gets celebrity status in its own close-up spread. Teachers and students will gain a heightened awareness of urban ecology as well as new ideas for preserving the natural resources in their own areas. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic Children's Books (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792279824
• ISBN-13: 978-0792279822
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #970,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brad Matsen has been writing about wonders of the sea for forty years. He is the author of Death and Oil: A True Story of the Piper Alpha Disaster on the North Sea; Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King; Titanic's Last Secrets; Descent: The Heroic Discovery of the Abyss, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 2006; the New York Times bestseller Titanic's Last Secrets; Planet Ocean: A Story of Life the Sea, and Dancing to the Fossil Record with artist Ray Troll; the award-winning Incredible Ocean Adventure series for children; and many other books. He was creative producer for the Shape of Life, an eight-hour National Geographic television series on evolutionary biology, and has written on marine science and the environment for Mother Jones, Audubon, Natural History, and other magazines.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great for kids, families and teachers, September 29, 2005

By 

Edith "rock and roll" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Go Wild in New York City (Hardcover)

Go Wild in New York City is a fantastic look at the natural world of NYC. It has excellent biological information and scientific explinations for common environmental phenomena. Teachers will find it useful for well worded and age appropriate definitions and activities.