A Log's Life [Hardcover]

Wendy Pfeffer (Author), Robin Brickman (Illustrator)

Book Description

After an oak tree falls in the forest, it has another life as home to a variety of creatures. As it decays over time, it provides food and shelter to porcupines, ants, mushrooms, salamanders, and many others, until it eventually turns into a mound of rich black earth. Very young children love spotting the animals as they learn about the life cycle of a tree. Full color.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3. An attractive introduction to the life, death, and decay of an oak tree. The simple, informative text presents the complex cast of characters residing in or on the living tree as well as the decomposing log?from woodpeckers, squirrels, and porcupines to carpenter ants, millipedes, slugs, and fungi. The verbal descriptions of this rich ecosystem are enhanced by striking illustrations of three-dimensional paper sculptures, often so realistic as to seem to be preserved natural specimens. Although this ground has been covered in Alvin Tresselt's The Gift of the Tree (Lothrop, 1992), a reincarnation of The Dead Tree (Atheneum, 1972; o.p.); and James Newton's Forest Log (Crowell, 1980; o.p.), Pfeffer's gentle, lucid text and Brickman's superb illustrations certainly merit inclusion in most collections.?Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NY
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Wendy Pfeffer is the author of several children's books, including Polar Bears and From Tadpole to Frog, as well as numerous articles and stories for magazines. Her full-time writing career includes teaching writing to adults and children. She previously taught first grade, and was the founding director for a nursery school. She lives in Pennington, New Jersey, with her husband, Tom.

Robin Brickman has illustrated many children's books, including One Night in the Coral Sea and Beaks!, by Sneed B. Collard III. To create three-dimensional illustrations for A Log's Life she painted watercolor paper, then cut, hand shaped, and glued the various pieces together. Ms. Brickman lives in western Massachusetts. Visit her website at www.robinbrickman.com to learn about the Community Mural Project based on this book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers; 1st edition (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689806361
• ISBN-13: 978-0689806360
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 10.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,071,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Wendy Pfeffer has written several other books for children,including From Tadpole to Frog and What's It Like to Be a Fish? both illustrated by Holly Keller. Ms. Pfeffer lives in Pennington, NJ. Holly Keller has illustrated Let's Go Rock Collecting by Roma Gans and You're Aboard Spaceship Earth by Patricia Lauber, as well as her own books starring Horace and Geraldine. Ms. Keller lives in West Redding, CT.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book and then take a walk in a forest!, April 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Log's Life (Hardcover)

"A Log's Life" is a little masterpiece of children's literature that can become a child's favorite book. The amazing paper-sculpture photo illustrations of Robin Brickman and the sparse but powerful alliterative language of author Wendy Pfeffer unite to tell a important ecological story about the life OF a log and the life IN a log. No wonder this book won the 2000 Giverny Award for best children's science picture book! What's fun for children is searching for and finding the organisms in Brickman's artwork on succeeding pages, once each has been initially introduced in the text. And later, when they hike in the woods with their parents, they can actually SEE this story come alive in nature itself.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Georgeous Ecology/ Life Lesson, August 1, 2004

By 

Customer "kagiso" (Berlin, MD USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Log's Life (Hardcover)

My 2 year old daughter loves this book, and so do I. The drawings are incredible (more so when you read that they are completely in water color), the text is beautiful and worth reading again and again(even though we often just marvel at the pictures and don't read all the text at my daughter's age), and what I so appreciate is the highly accurate description of log ecology,that is done so at a level exciting and accessible to a child.

If you aren't well-versed in the ecology of rotting logs, this will be a great resource for you as a parent, as well, prior to "field trips" to the woods!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Nature Center Must Have, July 24, 2005

By 

Zebe912 (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Log's Life (Hardcover)

I absolutely love this book and have used it with a variety of ages. Not only is the information clear and accurate, but the illustrations are outstanding. They are done all in paper (watercolored first) and are photographs of 3D "dioramas". Not only can you use this book to introduce life cycles, decomposition, etc. but you can use it as a lead in to some great art projects!