March 3, 2010

Mountain Man Unit--Favorite Books

Here are our favorite books from our Mountain Man Unit. All the books in this post are available from the Davis County Utah Library System.

Forest Cats of North America by Jerry Kobalenko (OV 599.75 K75). We used this book for the magnificent pictures. Since the book covers bobcats, lynx, and cougars, we learned how to tell each type of cat apart. Also, the information was easy for me to scan while the kids were poring over the pictures, so I was able to slip in lots of info without much effort on my part. The Hogle Zoo is home to two cougars and a Siberian lynx. The Logan Zoo (which is tiny, but cheap and you get to see the animals up close) has two bobcats. They are incredible jumpers!

Mountain Men: Cornerstones of Freedom by Andrew Santella (X 978.02 S234). I read sections of this book but not the entirety to my children as it was rather long and dry for their attention spans. However, it had the most complete information and included several really useful maps.


Jedediah Smith by Sharlene Nelson (X 92. S651n). This is a good adventure story.











Grizzly Bear by Jason Stone (X 599.784 S878). I'm sure there are numerous high quality books about grizzlies in the library system. However, this was our favorite. The pictures were great and the information was right on level for my youngsters. Learning about grizzlies was my children's favorite part of the Mountain Man Unit. Now, every picture of a bear they happen upon must be evaluated (hump, length of claws, size) to determine if it is a noble grizzly or subpar brown.




Kit Carson by Jan Gleiter (X 92. C321g). This was one of our favorite biographies.









Audubon: Painter of Birds on the Wild Frontier by Jennifer Armstrong (OV X 92. A916a). We loved this book. Audubon had all sorts of exciting adventures and he did all sorts of clever things in order to paint his birds as accurately as possible. Besides the nice pictures and good storytelling, this book opens up a world of possible activities. Fantastic!

There were several other books we loved. Unfortunately, I couldn't find pictures of the covers. Still, I don't want to leave them out.

The Wonder of Wolves by Patricia Lantier-Sampon (X 599.7444 L296). Again, there are numerous books about wolves but this one was perfect for the ages of my children. There is a wolf at the Hogle Zoo.

Albert Bierstadt: Painter of the American West by Gordon Hendricks (OV 92 B588H). This was another favorite. It is a collection of many of Bierstadt's works. I've only seen his most well-known pictures and was surprised by how much I liked some of his lesser known pieces. My children loved looking at the pictures and pulled this book out during free time constantly.

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