Build, Beaver, Build!: Life at the Longest Beaver Dam

by Sandra Markle, Deborah Hocking (Illustrator)

Overview

The first year of a beaver kit's life is full of new discoveries and dangers. But the most important lesson the kit learns is how to take care of his family's home. The lodge where he lives is protected by a long dam that many beavers have worked to build over the years. As the kit grows up, he helps repair and add to the family dam—and begins to build a life for himself.

Set at what is believed to be the world's longest beaver dam, Build, Beaver, Build—by award-winning author Sandra Markle—provides a glimpse of beaver life, seen through the eyes of one young beaver and his family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467749008
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/01/2016
Series:	Millbrook Picture Books Series
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD660L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Sandra Markle is the author of numerous award-winning books for children. A former elementary science teacher, she is a nationally-known science education consultant. Markle has received many honors for her series Animal Predators, Animal Scavengers, and Animal Prey. Several titles have been named as National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)/Children’s Book Council (CBC) Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12, and Animal Predators was honored as a Top 10 Youth Nonfiction Series by Booklist.

Markle is also the author of the Insect World series and several single titles. Her book Rescues! was named a Best Book by the Society of School Librarians International and a Recommended Title of Outstanding Nonfiction by the National Council of Teachers of English’s (NCTE) Orbis Pictus Award committee; Animal Heroes was named a 2008 Lasting Connections title by Book Links. Markle lives in Lakewood Ranch, Florida with her husband, photographer Skip Jeffery.

Deborah Hocking was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. In college she studied painting, illustration, graphic design, and Spanish. Her heart lies in forest exploration, mountain lake swimming, and bramble fort building. Build, Beaver, Build! is her first picture book.

Editorial Reviews

"An exciting introduction to these semiaquatic animals. Readers follow a young beaver kit over the course of a year as he and his family find food, ward off predators, and continue to build their dam and lodge. Short paragraphs lend themselves to being read aloud, and the narrative will hold kids' attention. However, the details and vocabulary found in other animal texts are lacking here; report writers will need to look elsewhere for general facts. Hocking's intricate and beautiful full-spread watercolors greatly enhance the text. VERDICT: A solid supplemental purchase."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

02/01/2016
K-Gr 3—An exciting introduction to these semiaquatic animals. Readers follow a young beaver kit over the course of a year as he and his family find food, ward off predators, and continue to build their dam and lodge. Short paragraphs lend themselves to being read aloud, and the narrative will hold kids' attention. However, the details and vocabulary found in other animal texts are lacking here; report writers will need to look elsewhere for general facts. Hocking's intricate and beautiful full-spread watercolors greatly enhance the text. VERDICT A solid supplemental purchase.—Jennifer Wolf, Beaverton City Library, OR

School Library Journal

2015-12-22
A young beaver kit grows up in a world in which beavers have lived for generations. Markle introduces her subject when he's only 3 weeks old, "softball-sized." She follows his growth using like familiar comparisons and documents his changing activities as he begins to imitate his parents, to feed himself, and to contribute to the continued building of the dam and providing for the next generation. She smoothly weaves in details of beaver life: their dams and lodges, their food, their enemies, and their activities as the seasons change. This experienced and award-winning author's engaging and informative text is not well-served by its packaging. The tantalizing subtitle is misleading, and the illustrations' stylized wetlands and forests would be more appropriate background for an animated film than an informational picture book. The long beaver dam that is their home is identified only in a short author's note in the backmatter; Markle doesn't use the superlative "longest." The green of Canada's north woods is deep and dark, but these illustrations tend toward the cyan. The text is usually set in white on the dark images, appropriate for the nocturnal animal. Shelves that already include Glen Rounds' classic Beaver (1999) and Jim Arnosky's Beaver Pond, Moose Pond (2000) probably don't need this, but it would complement other books about animal life cycles and includes helpful further research suggestions. Disappointing. (Informational picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews

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