They Came from the Bronx: How the Buffalo Were Saved from Extinction [Hardcover]

Neil Waldman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

His curiosity sparked by a childhood memory of hearing the Bronx Zoo's bison called "the Mother Herd," Waldman (Masada) here presents an articulate and informative volume recounting the animal's bittersweet history. The tale begins on an Oklahoma hilltop, where a Comanche boy asks his grandmother, "Tell me about the buffalo. What did they look like?" She assures him that he will soon see with his own eyes. From there the story unfolds in a series of scenes that flash between Oklahoma and turn-of-the-century New York City, where men load a herd of the creatures onto wagons and, eventually, onto a train headed back to the grandmother's hilltop, their "ancestral habitat." Throughout, the grandmother recounts to her grandson the glory days of the buffalo and their sad demise at the hands of white settlers. Waldman tracks the herd's progress as it crosses the country, drawing crowds of curious onlookers. He pairs his eloquent, sepia-toned watercolors--which have the look of old photographs--with black-and-white sketches, and subtly heightens the story's tension with the cinematic intersplicing of scenes. A historical note explains how 19th-century conservationists brought back the bison from the brink of extinction through the use of such seed herds, and they're now thriving on protected ranges across the country. Ages 7-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Gr 2-5-This picture-book slice of America's natural history defies classification. Waldman begins with a brief memoir about childhood visits to the Bronx Zoo and his curiosity about its "Mother Herd" of American bison. The heart of the book is a fictionalized recounting of the delivery of 15 of these animals from the zoo to the plains of Oklahoma in 1907. Double-page spreads alternate with the thoughts of a waiting Comanche boy and his grandmother and a description of the beasts' journey by horse-drawn wagon and train. The book concludes with a historical note about this particular event and other efforts in the late 1800s and early 1900s to return the buffalo to the western plains. The watercolor-and-ink drawings, almost entirely in shades of sepia, give the book the look of an old album. Readers may sense from the writing that Waldman was taken by the story of those bison traveling from the city zoo to the vast plains and was forced, by lack of factual data remaining from those days, to imagine the scene. He does this effectively in both text and illustration, which show signs of careful research into the period and locales. This title will work well as a read-aloud in studies of endangered species, westward expansion, and zoos. Desiree Webber's The Buffalo Train Ride (Eakin, 2001; o.p.) is nonfiction for older readers.

Ellen Heath, Orchard School, Ridgewood, NJ

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press (August 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563978911
• ISBN-13: 978-1563978913
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 11.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,281,628 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must read for 4th,5th,and,6th graders, August 14, 2001

By 

Books Come Alive "Storyreader" (Baldwinsville,, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: They Came from the Bronx: How the Buffalo Were Saved from Extinction (Hardcover)

I loved the poignant conversation between the old woman and her grandson. Her explanation of the disappearance of the buffalo builds to a very dramatic climax, that make us realize the seriousness of our country's past decisions. I reccommend this highly to anyone who cares about our past and future!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my Favorite Kids Books, March 24, 2006

By 

Andrea Burrows "elementary teacher" (San Jose, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: They Came from the Bronx: How the Buffalo Were Saved from Extinction (Hardcover)

I have been reading this to our reading buddy class of third graders now for a few years... I first read it at our local library and choked up. It is good for lots of academic reasons but is also engaging and has an unusual style and amazing illustrations.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE MOTHER LOAD FROM THE MOTHER HERD, October 31, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: They Came from the Bronx: How the Buffalo Were Saved from Extinction (Hardcover)

No other animal represents the American frontier like the American Bison. To Native Americans he was a spirit messenger, sacred to their very existence. To them and frontiersmen alike the thundering, shaggy beasts represented food, clothing, shelter and fuel. And in a larger sense the massive herds represented the spirit of freedom in a new and untouched land.

In They Came from the Bronx, Neil Waldman recounts the fascinating tale of how this quintessential American animal was brought back from extinction.

Waldman speaks of the Bronx Zoo's "Mother Herd," and his curiosity as a child with the name. How could a captive herd of bison in the largest American metropolis, so far from the wide-open spaces of the Great Plains, claim such a title?

Waldman's story weaves an eloquent account beginning in Oklahoma, stepping back to New York City in the early Nineteen hundreds, offers historical facts about the bison's prairie reign and then it's back to Oklahoma where a Comanche grandmother and her grandson await a most improbable reunion.

They Came from the Bronx is technically a children's book but will appeal to children of all ages, from one to ninety-three, if you will. Beautifully illustrated and written, the book speaks volumes about the tragedy of man's irresponsible exploitation of wildlife but also offers a ray of hope that once mistakes are made and recognized, if we are careful and responsible, they can and should be rectified.

Douglas McAllister