One Day in the Prairie [Paperback]

Jean Craighead George (Author), Bob Marstall (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Paperback: 50 pages
• Publisher: Scholastic Inc. (January 1, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 043909917X
• ISBN-13: 978-0439099172
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,270,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jean Craighead George was born in a family of naturalists. Her father, mother, brothers, aunts and uncles were students of nature. On weekends they camped in the woods near their Washington, D.C. home, climbed trees to study owls, gathered edible plants and made fish hooks from twigs. Her first pet was a turkey vulture. In third grade she began writing and hasn't stopped yet. She has written over 100 books.Her book, Julie of the Wolves won the prestigious Newbery Medal, the American Library Association's award for the most distinguished contribution to literature for children, l973. My Side of the Mountain, the story of a boy and a falcon surviving on a mountain together, was a 1960 Newbery Honor Book. She has also received 20 other awards.She attended Penn State University graduating with a degree in Science and Literature. In the 1940s she was a reporter for The Washington Post and a member of the White House Press Corps. After her children were born she returned to her love of nature and brought owls, robins, mink, sea gulls, tarantulas - 173 wild animals into their home and backyard. These became characters in her books and, although always free to go, they would stay with the family until the sun changed their behavior and they migrated or went off to seek partners of their own kind.When her children, Twig, Craig and Luke, were old enough to carry their own backpacks, they all went to the animals. They climbed mountains, canoed rivers, hiked deserts. Her children learned about nature and Jean came home and to write books. Craig and Luke are now environmental scientists and Twig writes children's books, too.One summer Jean learned that the wolves were friendly, lived in a well-run society and communicated with each other in wolf talk -- sound, sight, posture, scent and coloration. Excited to learn more, she took Luke and went to the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory in Barrow, Alaska, where scientists were studying this remarkable animal. She even talked to the wolves in their own language. With that Julie of the Wolves was born. A little girl walking on the vast lonesome tundra outside Barrow, and a magnificent alpha male wolf, leader of a pack in Denali National Park were the inspiration for the characters in the book. Years later, after many requests from her readers, she wrote the sequels, Julie and Julie's Wolf Pack.She is still traveling and coming home to write. In the last decade she has added two beautiful new dimensions to her words beautiful full-color picture book art by Wendell Minor and others and - music. Jean is collaborating with award-winning composer, Chris Kubie to bring the sounds of nature to her words.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Feel the excitement of a tornado and a buffalo stampede, April 18, 2001

By 

Isabel Harding (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Day in the Prairie (Trophy Chapter Book) (Paperback)

Here is another entry in nature writer Jean Craighead George's fantastic ONE DAY series. This one, unlike the other books in the series--ONE DAY IN THE. . .WOODS, ALPINE TUNDRA, DESERT, and TROPICAL RAIN FOREST--is written more dramatically in the present, and is a very satisfying introduction to the lively environment of the United States prairie. Henry Rush, a young photographer, gets to spend one day on the prairie to take a picture of a prairie dog doing a backflip. These comical little critters provide humor, while the buffalo of a nearby herd seem wise and noble. Suddenly, disaster strikes. A tornado is headed for the prairie, and Henry, the buffalo, the prairie dogs, and countless other creatures are in its path. The result is thrilling and tense. The illustrator's amazingly realistic drawings add to the excitement. This is a fine story about a lively environment from the author of JULIE OF THE WOLVES, MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, HOW TO TALK TO YOUR DOG, and many, many more superb books about the environment.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One Day in the Prairie, May 27, 2007

By 

Susan C. Ellington "selling" (Houston,TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One Day in the Prairie (Trophy Chapter Book) (Paperback)

I have its companion books "One Day in the Tropical Rainforest", "One Day in the Woods", and "One Day in the Desert". I was very excited to get this one. I use them all in my third grade class room. The children find them an interesting and exciting way to learn about different types of land.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Educational Purposes, March 20, 2008

By 

C. Beall (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: One Day in the Prairie (Trophy Chapter Book) (Paperback)

This book has some of the most beautiful pencil drawings I've seen in a children's book. While the story isn't overly enthralling, he does a great job of describing the animals and plants in detail to help the reader learn about each one and to really imagine they are there on the prairie. We will be using this book as a resource to study prairie life.