Yosemite's Songster: One Coyote's Story

by Ginger Wadsworth, Daniel San Souci (Illustrator)

Overview

Coyote is separated from her mate by a rockfall and searches the park to find him. Sometimes silent, occasionally observed, always watchful, Coyote makes her way from one memorable site to another, singing a lonely song of yips and yowls. Gorgeous watercolor paintings of Yosemite illuminate this ultimately satisfying story, while the text closely observes one of the park's most familiar kind of wild resident. Young readers will discover much about coyotes, and will also delight in spotting the places they too have visited—Half Dome, Sentinel Bridge, Stoneman Meadow, the Ahwahnee, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781930238343
Publisher:	Yosemite Conservancy
Publication date:	08/13/2013
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	9.40(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Ginger Wadsworth is the award-winning author of more than twenty-five nonfiction children’s books. She has frequently explored Yosemite National Park to pursue her passions for hiking, photography, bird watching, camping, and to research her books, including this one. Daniel San Souci was born in San Francisco and grew up across the bay in Berkeley, California. In 1978 he started a career in book illustration. Daniel has published over eighty books and created many book covers which include wildlife and national park titles.

Read an Excerpt

That night, Coyote follows the Merced River
to Sentinel Bridge.
On the east side of the stone bridge,
visitors gaze at Half Dome
and at the moon rising beyond the magnificent
monolith.
Some click cameras.
Others hold hands.
On the west side, Coyote raises her muzzle high
and howls at the star-filled sky.
At last, a familiar yip returns her song!

Editorial Reviews

Wadsworth, whose Camping with the President was also set in Yosemite National Park, gives readers a tour of the park’s highlights, while focusing on a coyote that has been separated from her mate. A rock slide divides the pair, and Coyote dashes away, first taking refuge underneath a canvas cabin in Curry Village, and then exploring further. Coyote’s travels give Wadsworth many opportunities to point out the park’s highlights and show how visitors are enjoying it: “Coyote dozes beneath an elderberry bush,/ a perfect umbrella shading her/ from the midday sun./ People are everywhere,/ talking,/ walking,/ riding bicycles,/ or peering out past bus windows.” San Souci, illustrator of Two Bear Cubs and Antelope, Bison, Cougar (which, like this book, benefit the park itself), offers stately watercolor portraits of Coyote and her verdant environs, whether perched on a sun-dappled hillside overlooking Yosemite Family Chapel or reunited with her mate, as they yip at a full moon under a clear, starry sky. A fine introduction to the park and the creatures, activities, and natural marvels it has to offer. Ages 4–7. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

KIRKUS REVIEWS, June 15, 2013:
A tender story of separation and return celebrates Yosemite National Park and its coyotes. After a frightening avalanche separates a coyote pair one spring morning, the female heads home to spend a lonely 36 hours without her mate before they are finally reunited. Wadsworth’s lyrical text provides a word-picture of the park’s cabins and campgrounds, its sights and sounds, and the coyote’s daily routine. She checks the trash cans, hunts for mice and squirrels, rests and waits. Finally, when she howls in the evening, her mate returns her call. The text respects these animals’ wildness, with no attribution of human characteristics (although readers and listeners will surely imagine their emotions). A concluding author’s note explains more about coyotes in the park and around the country. San Souci’s painterly watercolors are set in frames opposite the text except at the beginning and end, where the pair enter and leave their story in full-bleed images. He includes other creatures mentioned: a great horned owl, a pair of skunks and, of course, the human visitors. And he shows some of Yosemite’s famed natural splendors: Mirror Lake, the Merced River, Half Dome and El Capitan.Published by the park’s conservancy, this satisfying story will make an appealing souvenir and can also serve as an introduction to a common but not well-loved species. (Picture book. 4-8)

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, July 8, 2013:
Wadsworth, whose Camping with the President was also set in Yosemite National Park, gives readers a tour of the park's highlights, while focusing on a coyote that has been separated from her mate. . . . San Souci, illustrator of Two Bear Cubs and Antelope, Bison, Cougar (which, like this book, benefit the park itself), offers stately watercolor portraits of Coyote and her verdant environs, whether perched on a sun-dappled hillside overlooking Yosemite Family Chapel or reunited with her mate, as they yip at a full moon under a clear, starry sky. A fine introduction to the park and the creatures, activities, and natural marvels it has to offer. Ages 4-7.

WINNER, Western Writers of America 2014 Spur Award, Storyteller Award category

From the Publisher

K-Gr 5—A coyote couple is split apart when a rock slide startles them while they are squirrel hunting. The female spends days searching Yosemite National Park for her mate. She travels all over, sometimes encountering other animals, sometimes encountering park visitors. This gives Wadsworth an excuse to describe sights such as El Capitan and Half Dome, and some of the lodgings and activities. She has an easy-to-read, poetic style that speaks for the coyote without feeling forced. The descriptions of the park are necessary for readers who are unfamiliar with it, but they are done in a natural way. The story is tinged with melancholy and anxiety as the coyote calls to her mate over and over again. Both the text and San Souci's illustrations combine to help readers appreciate this natural wonder. The realistic pictures depict Yosemite in a hazy, golden light. The coyote is regal, at times scared, but at other times perfectly focused on hunting. While she remains a wild animal, her personality becomes apparent through the art. Finally, the coyotes are reunited and hunt together once more. An author's note describes the best way to view and treat wildlife.—Susan E. Murray, formerly at Glendale Public Library, AZ

School Library Journal

A tender story of separation and return celebrates Yosemite National Park and its coyotes. After a frightening avalanche separates a coyote pair one spring morning, the female heads home to spend a lonely 36 hours without her mate before they are finally reunited. Wadsworth's lyrical text provides a word-picture of the park's cabins and campgrounds, its sights and sounds, and the coyote's daily routine. She checks the trash cans, hunts for mice and squirrels, rests and waits. Finally, when she howls in the evening, her mate returns her call. The text respects these animals' wildness, with no attribution of human characteristics (although readers and listeners will surely imagine their emotions). A concluding author's note explains more about coyotes in the park and around the country. San Souci's painterly watercolors are set in frames opposite the text except at the beginning and end, where the pair enter and leave their story in full-bleed images. He includes other creatures mentioned: a great horned owl, a pair of skunks and, of course, the human visitors. And he shows some of Yosemite's famed natural splendors: Mirror Lake, the Merced River, Half Dome and El Capitan. Published by the park's conservancy, this satisfying story will make an appealing souvenir and can also serve as an introduction to a common but not well-loved species. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews