Prairie Dog Town (Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection/Book) [Hardcover]

Bettye Rogers (Author), Deborah Howland (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 6 and up | Series: Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection/Book

Unable to find enough food in the community where he has grown up, Prairie Dog crosses the prairie to an area with more vegetation and digs a burrow of his own.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-3-This book's best feature is its soft pastel illustrations set in borders that show cracked desert earth, animal tracks, clover, and wild flowers. The paintings are realistic and attractive, but they will not carry at a distance. The text introduces a one-year-old male prairie dog and his family. Written in a simple style, it reads like a story; however, poor transitions often mar an otherwise good text, causing some confusion. There is no map showing the animals' territorial habitat. Libraries that own Eugenia Alston's Come Visit a Prairie Dog Town (Harcourt, 1976; o.p.) or Ron Hirschi's fine dramatic photo-story, Who Lives on the Prairie? (Putnam, 1989), which is useful for storytelling, may not need this title. For more serious students, Jack Scott and Ozzie Sweet's Little Dogs of the Prairie (Putnam, 1977; o.p.) and David Costello's The World of the Prairie Dog (HarperCollins, 1970; o.p.) are the most complete. Dorothy Beers's Prairie Dog (Macmillan, 1990), for an older audience, is by far the best, most complete title on the subject. This Smithsonian volume is also available with a companion read-along cassette tape. Collections without the older titles may want this one. It would also be useful for those developing multimedia theme kits.
Susannah Price, Boise Public Library, ID
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 31 pages
• Publisher: Soundprints; 1st edition (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568990057
• ISBN-13: 978-1568990057
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,785,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars read me, June 21, 2011

By 

mrs.moody - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prairie Dog Town (Smithsonian Wild Heritage Collection/Book) (Hardcover)

As humans we take for granted the creatures that thrived before human civilization. All across the plains of Texas a group of animals create entire cities underground, develop a language and struggle to keep what little bit of land our farmers allow them to have. Lubbock is home to "prairie dog town"- a place preserved for the life of the prairie dog. My grandmother, who is the author of this book, spent many saturday afternoons taking my sister and me to feed and observe the prairie dogs. Now we own a bit of land outside Lubbock and the prairie dogs have migrated and created a world of their own, safe from annhilation. This book has amazing illustrations and is written by someone who has a geniune passion for animals and the preservation of the american west. Children will love this book for the illustration and the story of survival of one of West Texas most beloved and loathed inhabitants.