Customer Reviews

One Day in the Prairie

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This book is SSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO boring. The story, if you could call it that, is this nerd named Henry Rush trying to get a picture of a prairie dog doing a backflip. The story is split into tiny chunks of the book, while all the rest is just facts about the grasslands. I had to read this for school, and, god, was it BORING. There was not ONE tiny part that I found interesting. Just for you, I'll tell you what happened the whole book so you won't have to go through the pain and agony I did reading it.

SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THIS BOOK, DO NOT READ ON.

Henry's father drops his geeky son off in the middle of a Wildlife Refuge and drives off. Henry wants to get a photo of a prairie dog doing a backflip. Henry sees a tornado, but he doesn't care. He finally gets the picture and he ducks down, escapes the tornado, and the second the tornado is over, his dad comes in his car. Wow, that's good luck!

The book brought up some questions. 1) Why didn't he just use a camcorder or a digital camera that could make movies for the picture? 2) Why did his father just drop him off in the middle of nowhere? 3) Why did he name the prairie dog? 4) Why did he name it Red Dog? 5) Why did Jean even bother putting in a character, plot and a setting? Why wasn't it just a fact book? 6) Why didn't any character die? 7) Why didn't Jean make this book interesting? 8) Is this book supposed to be fiction or non-fiction? 9) How did somebody give this book 4 stars? Huh? Huh? 10) Why did they make this book so boring?

For those of you that think I'm being too hard on this book, I'm not. This boring piece of junk deserves this 1 star I gave it. The idea stinks, I know, but I can think of lots of ways to make it interesting. For one thing, you could make somebody die! That would make it interesting and if I had a choice to read it (Again, I had to read it for a report on the grasslands), I would've considered reading it if Henry Rush got sucked up in the tornado and got dropped off in the lake. Now, THAT would have made things interesting. Or at least the camera! Or at least the irritating prairie dog! Or at least part of the car when it's driving by! They could have made at least one of the characters likeable. This book is boring, unimaginative, and just plain dumb. The only things this book is good for is a paintball gun target, a frisbee and a sleep pill. Speaking of paintball guns, I would rather be shot by one than reread this book.