National Parks of the USA

by Kate Siber, Chris Turnham (Illustrator)

Overview

Take a tour of America's great outdoors and discover the beauty and diversity of its most iconic and majestic national parks.

*A 2019 Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students: K–12 (National Science Teachers Association and the Children's Book Council)*

Packed with maps and fascinating facts about the flora and fauna unique to each of the 21 parks portrayed, this lushly illustrated coast-to-coast journey documents in large format the nation’s most magnificent and sacred places—and shows why they should be preserved for future generations to enjoy.

Explore Florida's river-laced Everglades, travel down the white water rapids of the Grand Canyon, trek across the deserts of Death Valley, and scale the soaring summits of the Rocky Mountains with this book that brings you up close to nature's greatest adventures.

Divided by region (East, Central, Rocky Mountains, West, Tropics, and Alaska), a pictographic map at the start of each section shows the locations of the parks to be covered. Each park is introduced by a stunning, poster-worthy illustration of one of its scenes and a summary of its makeup, followed by individual illustrations of the animals and plants that make their homes there.

Captions provide captivating information about the wildlife. Did you know that Everglades National Park is home to marsh rabbits who paddle through its swamps searching for herbs, flowers, and other plants to nibble on? Or that the pronghorn antelope of Badlands National Park are the continent’s fastest land animals, sprinting up to 60 miles per hour to escape predators like bobcats and coyotes?

A “Can you spot this…?” page at the back challenges you to find a pictured critter or plant for every letter of the alphabet.

The parks include: Acadia, Badlands, Big Bend, Biscayne, Bryce Canyon, Channel Islands, Death Valley, Denali, Everglades, Glacier, Glacier Bay, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky Mountains, Hawaii volcanoes, Isle Royale, Mesa Verde, Olympic, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Virgin Islands, Yellowstone, and Yosemite.

A book to be treasured by children and adults alike, National Parks of the USA serves to inspire the adventuring naturalist in all of us.

Brimming with facts, activities, and beautiful illustrations, the National Parks of the USA series of books immerses young people in the wonders of America’s outdoors. Learn about the wonderful wildlife, stunning scenery, and rare plants that inhabit these precious outdoor spaces. Celebrate these beautiful and rare locations, and be awed by the diversity and grandeur of the national parks’ living landscapes.

Also in the series: National Parks of the USA: Activity Book and National Parks of the USA Postcards.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847809766
Publisher:	Wide Eyed Editions
Publication date:	07/03/2018
Series:	National Parks of the USA Series , #1
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	20,737
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 12.30(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

About the Author

Kate Siber, author of the award-winning bestseller National Parks of the USA, is a journalist and a correspondent for Outside magazine living in Durango, Colorado. She has tried her hand at almost every adventure activity going, and covers the world’s wild and remote places as well as environmental and social issues. Her writing has been featured in many publications, including National Geographic Traveler, National Parks, Preservation, Men’s Journal, and The New York Times.

Chris Turnham is an illustrator and printmaker based in Los Angeles. He's worked as an artist in both feature and television animation and has contributed illustrations to publications and children's books.

Editorial Reviews

07/30/2018
For travelers and outdoor enthusiasts alike, this attractive volume explores 21 of America’s most iconic national parks, from Maine’s Acadia (“Lace up your hiking boots!”) and Alaska’s Glacier Bay (“Listen for the whoomph of glaciers calving icebergs”) to tropical destinations in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The guide begins with a brief history of nature reserves, including President Grant’s 1872 establishment of Yellowstone, and maps throughout show each region’s park locations (though not all mapped parks are further detailed, which may frustrate readers). Subsequent pages for each region highlight its grandest parks with a full-bleed introduction and a second, factual spread that details area highlights, including common flora (in Denali, the black spruce: “Even a tiny, stunted spruce could be more than 100 years old”), fauna (at Glacier, the wolverine), and habitats. Digital art by Turnham layers visuals—Bryce Canyon’s stone strata, the steam of Yellowstone’s geysers, and the striated skies that soar over them all—as children and adults hike and paddle their way through the illustrations. An afterword discusses the fragility and welfare of the country’s outdoor spaces, and an alphabet seek-and-find invites readers to locate visuals throughout the pages—and, presumably, in the parks themselves. Ages 6–9. (July)

Publishers Weekly

…lovely…an engaging picture book…”—Booklist (STARRED REVIEW)

"It will make you want to hit the road and start exploring."—Design Mom

"...a colorful, kid-friendly encyclopedia crammed with beta, factoids, and vivid illustrations..."—Outside Magazine

“A panoramic sampler of our park system’s flora, fauna, and other natural wonders.”—Kirkus Reviews

“For travelers and outdoor enthusiasts alike…”—Publishers Weekly

"...a treasure...educates and entertains...a must-have for all the families who love to travel..."—Durango Herald

“…an informative feast for the eyes…[a] stunning look at our nation’s natural treasures.”—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

09/01/2018
Gr 2–6—This oversize picture book atlas of sorts examines U.S. national parks. Striking art deco—style illustrations and stylized fonts create an informative feast for the eyes. Early elementary school readers will love the browsable pages, but even middle schoolers will find some use here, and adults will marvel at the presentation. Familiar parks such as the Everglades, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite are here, but lesser known ones get equal treatment. Each region of the United States, from sea to shining sea, boasts a national park worthy of exploring. Fascinating snippets of information are interspersed—lobsters are ill tempered; wolverines can take down animals as big as elk. VERDICT Pair, use, or display with a more detailed guide book of the parks for a thorough, stunning look at our nation's natural treasures.—Sharon Verbeten, Brown County Library, Green Bay, WI

School Library Journal

2018-05-28
A panoramic sampler of our park system's flora, fauna, and other natural wonders.Siber and Turnham map all 60 parks but highlight 21 of the more popular ones. For each of the latter, a general introduction is paired with a big landscape (or underwater) view on one spread, and the next follows up with a small location map plus images of 10 or so distinctive plants, animals, and geological features with brief descriptive comments. The entries are arranged in geographical groups going, roughly, east to west but in no logical itinerary. Created digitally in a serigraphic style, the art has a retro, travel-poster look that complements the breezy narrative's message that these are places worth visiting: "Just about everything in the 49th state is bigger and gnarlier than in the Lower 48." Family groups hiking, swimming, or marveling at vistas in most of the larger pictures are (for a change) more often dark-skinned than light. Though the art's palette runs to muted greens, blues, and oranges, figures stand out sharply—in contrast to the smaller blocks of text, which are printed in a skinny-skinny type that can be hard to see when placed over dark or multihued backgrounds. Still, readers fond of outdoorsy activities will respond to this inviting array of sites, scenery, and wildlife in natural settings.An eyeful for active or armchair vacationers, though more a general overview than a guidebook. (index) (Nonfiction. 7-10)

Kirkus Reviews