Amazon.com
Ravens are among the most elusive and yet (or, consequently) fascinating animals of North American I have ever encountered. Heinrich--an incredibly patient and cold-hardy fellow, not to mention, a heck of a writer--studied ravens in the dead of winter in Maine, and made some remarkable discoveries of how these normally solitary birds would actually engage in food sharing. Few of the many works on behavioral ecology I have read so compellingly capture the tedium of field work, the inscrutability of subject animals, and the satisfaction of discovery that provides even greater warmth than a blazing wood fire in the middle of a northern winter. Highly Recommended.
Book Description
Why should ravens--which are usually solitary birds--share valuable food in the dead of winter? How clever are these birds? Do they have a language? These are some of the riddles that noted sociobiologist Bernd Heinrich, author of Bumblebee Economics and winner of the John Burroughs Medal, explores in this intriguing book. 16 pages of drawings.
Customer Reviews:
More than Ravens.......2006-09-26
A very interesting book. I found the hardships the author so enthusiastically suffered for his research even more interesting than the ravens. Doctor Heinrich was not a young man when he began the research in the frozen Maine woods. I believe he was about 45 when he started and close to 50 when he finished this particular phase of study. He was climbing close to the top of 100 foot trees in freezing or below freezing weather, he was shivering in blinds (and in his cabin) for hours in below 0 weather, he hauled hundreds of pounds of meat in snow and sleet countless times. He walked and sometimes ran many, many miles through the snow with and without snowshoes. He was up before dawn many, many times. Pretty amazing.
Of course, his raven research is extremely interesting. I thought I had heard at least one of them sound like a barking dog at my cabin in the Canadian woods. My dog barks in the cabin when I have to leave him when it's too hot to take him in the car. I know now that it's possible the raven copied the bark.
Certainly worth reading even if you aren't a scientist.
Precise and poetic.......2005-10-09
Academic field biologist Bernd Heinrich created a poetic and spiritual account of his exacting field observations regarding the intelligence of ravens. This book is moving and illuminating. It is also a true life mystery novel that keeps you turning pages to see how it all works out. The best part: Bernd Heinrich has written many other books equal to this one.
Exploration in Ethology.......2005-07-07
This book provides an introduction into how questions of animal behavior are asked and answered. Heinrich, a professor of zoology and naturalist noticed that crows seemed to call others to join them when they discovered large animal kills in the winter. Such behavior would seem to be against the crows' best interest, since an individual crow could perhaps have more food if it kept it all for itself. This set Heinrich's curiosity afire, which impelled him to embark on a multi-year study of crow behavior so that he could determine why the crows seem so eager to share their bounty. In this book, presented as a daily journal, Heinrich details his project, from the original posing of the question through final publication of the results. He describes how he gathered downer cows, transported them to the study site, and how he observed crow behavior for hours and days on end at feeding sites. He also describes how he trapped and banded crows so that he could record the behavior of individuals over time. In the end, he builds a very solid case for the idea that juvenile crows recruit others to overwhelm resident crows who would otherwise defend their territory (and food) from outsiders. The book is illustrated with a set of black-and-white drawings done by Heinrich. End material includes appendices with numerical and graphical analyses of the study data, an extensive bibliography, and an index.
What takes this book beyond simple ecological description is Heinrich's careful inclusion of his methodology. He is very much a teacher, so he takes great care to explain how he came up with his hypotheses about the recruiting behavior, which in the beginning numbered not one but nine. He discusses scientific methodology, the right way and wrong way to observe natural phenomena, as well as background material about ravens. He also notes how any one piece of data or type of data do not in themselves lead to a conclusion, but that the final result in this type of research must be constructed by examining all the data, and seeing how they all point in the same direction. I found one comment particularly fascinating. Somewhere along the way, I had been told that animals do not have the mental capacity to experience emotions, or that if they do experience emotions at all, such emotions are simple and limited. But Heinrich states "Birds are primarily emotional beings, and their responses to emotional drives are probably much more direct than ours are, since human reactions are tempered by reason." When one considers animal behavior in this light, much becomes clear, yet many more questions arise.
Great book on observing nature, but not the best on ravens.......2004-10-12
As readers of his other books know, Bernd Heinrich is an outstanding observer of nature. He has retained his childlike curiosity, and enjoys poking around under rocks, climbing trees to look around, and conducting simple experiments in the woods to see what will happen.
He has long since grown up into a scientist and a teacher as well. As a result, he knows how to take notes, conduct a literature review, justify his conclusions, and convey information to readers.
In this book, he does all this very well in trying to figure out a puzzle of raven behavior. If you want to walk with him on an intellectual journey, this is a five-star book.
But . . . I wanted a book about ravens. Instead of the journey, I wanted the destination. There is a better book out there on ravens, and as it turns out, Bernd Heinrich wrote that one, too. If, like me, you want to know what we know about these remarkable, intelligent birds, read Heinrich's "Mind of the Raven" instead.
Bernd Heinrich teaches us how to study animal behavior.......2004-07-22
Mr. Heinrich has hit on a truth: when studying the behavior of animals you must remain mentally flexible, keep an open mind and open senses, and keep your eye on the big picture--all while preventing yourself from either trying to make the organism either too human or too robotic. He has developed an amazing capacity, rare among scientists, to do all these things while balancing them with the need for a scientific approach, and that skill has led him to exciting results. While his approach may seem frustratingly scattershot to those who practice or admire "pure" sciences like mathematics, it is revealed in this book as the only method that can provide rapid (within a human lifetime), ground-breaking results in the complex and chaotic world of behavioral research. Heinrich has revealed ravens as neither humans wearing feathers nor as creatures of knee-jerk instinct, but rather as fascinating and intelligent members of our living planet. I am in as much awe of his ability to penetrate to the reasons behind behaviors as I am of his endurance, strength, persistence, and love of nature. I'm going to have to read his book on bumblebees next--and in fact, every one of his books!
Book Description
This engrossing début novel depicts Sylvia Plath’s feverish artistic process in the bitter aftermath of her failed marriage to Ted Hughes—the few excruciating yet astoundingly productive weeks in which she wrote
Ariel, her defining last collection of poems.
In December 1962, shortly before her suicide, Plath moved with her two children to London from the Hughes’s home in Devon. Focusing on the weeks after their arrival, but weaving back through the years of Plath’s marriage, Kate Moses imagines the poet juggling the demands of motherhood and muse, shielding her life from her own mother, and by turns cherishing and demonizing her relationship with Ted. Richly imagined yet meticulously faithful to the actual events of Plath’s life,
Wintering is a remarkable portrait of the moments of bravery and exhilaration that Plath found among the isolation and terror of her depression
Customer Reviews:
Purple Prose.......2007-09-19
The reason why I brought this book was the first page. I was amazed at how beautiful the prose was. I've owned the book for over a year now, however, and have yet to finish it. The hook was the downfall. I defend flowery writing--to an extent. I love it in books on CERTAIN passages. But this book just never stops. Moreover, I got bored of hearing Silvia whine about her husband while cooking and cleaning and changing diapers. Yes she was a mother, and yes her husband cheated on her, but she was more interesting and did more than that, I'm sure.
Still, I do like the book. I prefer to slowly nibble one chapter at a time (and god willing I'll actually finish it that way). I reach for its rich language when I'm feeling uninspired, and it is pretty heart-wrenching. Its a good try, and Im not at all sorry I bought it. I recommend it to people who also enjoy rich language.
Interesting.......2006-08-15
"Wintering" by Kate Moses is a novelization of the very last days of the life of Sylvia Plath. I have read several biographies of Plath, and two novelizations, "Wintering" and "Sylvia and Ted" by Emma Tennant. Nobody is impartial about the life and death of Sylvia Plath: her varied biographers, people who knew Plath, readers and reviewers on Amazon. Many reviewers felt Moses' book was too emotional and presented in a florid, overly detailed writing style. The same criticism appeared in the reviews of "Sylvia and Ted". I found the writing style totally appropriate to the subject matter: Plath's life was filled with frenzy and drama. I would compare the writing style of both novels to "Blonde", a novelization of the life of Marilyn Monroe. Women of the 50s and 60s strove to have it all, success and recognition, love and marriage. Both Sylvia and Marilyn worked very hard to be good enough, yet no matter how much they achieved, they were always thwarted, their success snatched away and their fragile psyches battered over and over. In Sylvia's case, there were always lesser interlopers who claimed the prize she felt should be hers: her baby brother pushing her from the family spotlight, a situation made worse by the death of her father (by dying, he insured she could never please him), lesser academic rivals making it into a cherished writers' workshop when she did not, her husband Ted's strangely posessive sister, and snotty and snobbish Dido Merwyn, sitting in judgement on Sylvia, an insipid girl student at Smith, a sixteen year old babysitter, and finally and most punishingly, Assia Wevill. In "Wintering", Moses totally nailed the image of Assia eyeing Sylvia's life, accomplishments, and possessions and deciding to take them for herself. We can feel Sylvia's disgust and despair: how could Ted, who knew her soul, prefer the shallow and grasping Assia? But by spewing forth a litter of new, powerful and emotionally laden poems, then dramatically and mysteriously ending her own life, Sylvia did in a way finally manage to win. Sylvia's enemies were left with her leftovers: Ted and Assia were cursed (and weak enough) to remain in her cast-off homes, spending the money earned by her talent and labor, raising her children.
Pretty Good Had it's boring parts though.........2006-06-10
I liked this book overall.. thought it was a good book to read about one of my favorite poets Sylvia Plath. Towards the last half of the book I did lose a bit of interest.. and just wanted the book to be over with.. But it was good.. if your a fan of Sylvia Plath or just interested and want to know more about her then give this book a try.
Justin
a disappointment.......2005-01-18
I had very high expectations for this book, but felt let down in many ways. The first thing that irked me was the writing style, pseudo-Plathian prose which, while dispersed with Plath's imagery from Ariel, came off as dry and dull. In the way that metaphors wake up Plath's The Bell Jar, Moses's misuse of Plath's words put her novel to sleep. Her dialogue seems well below the level of language that Plath, a prodigy and college educated woman, would use in daily conversation, and often seems more feigned and melodramatic than any person would use.
The novel had its good points as well, ingeniously set up with chapters that paralleled the poems of Plath's version of Ariel. Moses depicted Hughes as a neutral to sympathetic character which was a nice break away from the "killer of Plath" image that accompanies many biographies of the Poetess. I most appreciated that the novel ended in December of 1962, two months before Plath's death and, hence, did not touch on Plath's justification of the event.
I would recommend this novel only to someone who loves Plath and needs to read everything about her. Otherwise a biography (like Middlebrook's Her Husband) would relay more information about Plath and Hughes, skipping unrealistic dialogue and failing alterations of Plath's imagery.
Very moving -- even IF a novel.......2005-01-15
I didn't realize a novel about Sylvia Plath's last years was so controversial. Reading the reviews here, I am surprised at how critical people can be with what is admittedly a NOVEL, not an intended biography.
The people here who feel the need to point out that it IS a novel seem to want to rate it lower, as if it somehow degrades the subject.
I would think a novel would be the most appropriate way to capture Plath's life.
I was not a real student of Plath when I read this. I actually received it as a gift. But I read it immediately and I must say I was very moved by the story.
Had this been a novel with no connection to real people it might not have been so moving. But as a story of how things Might have been or what Plath May have felt it seems to open up the pain and tragedy of the story.
This work is definitely one sided. For the Plath beginner, it made me choose sides concerning Hughes and Plath's mother. It is probably too powerful as a novel in that sense.
But as a novel, it allowed Moses to go where she otherwise couldn't have gone. I applaud her for a tremendous first novel that moved me and interested me in a subject I had avoided until then. It succeeded in making me realize the highs and lows of a life gone astray. I closed the book both angry FOR Plath and angry AT Plath. But I was also grateful to Moses for giving me something accessible to approach Plath as a person without losing her in her work.
I would recommend this for anyone just starting to examine Plath and her works. Certainly this is an excellent vehicle to examine the works, the person and even as a case study of someone who can never quite live up to their own goals of perfection and achievement even in the face of success.
-Mike
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When Winter Comes (Real Readers)
Pearl Neuman , and
Richard Roe
Manufacturer: Heinemann Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding
 Nonfiction
| Mammals
| Animals
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Zoology
| Science, Nature & How It Works
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General
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ASIN: 0817235191 |
Book Description
Under the winter moon:
Survive an icy night under a December moon with a song sparrow stalked by a midnight predator in Ohio's suburban meadowland.
Navigate through underground passageways with a mole in the chilly darkness of December and January beneath the Great Plains of Kansas.
Experience January moonlit courtship with a hooting horned owl in the forests of the Catskill Mountains.
Prepare for hibernation with a female bear as February's ice crystals replace the dew in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.
In this series, acclaimed naturalist and Newbery Medal -- winning author Jean Craighead George takes readers on a wondrous journey through each season of the year as she captures the lives of thirteen different North American animals in their natural habitats.
Customer Reviews:
Spectacular Nature Writing.......2002-02-01
Newbery Medal-winning naturalist and acclaimed author Jean Craighead George wrote a series of stories in the late 1960's entitled The Thirteen Moons. Each of the thirteen books focused on a different wild animal struggling to survive in a different month of the year and a different part of the United States. The books were: THE MOON OF THE ALLIGATORS, BEARS, CHICKAREES, DEER, FOX PUPS, MOLES, MONARCH BUTTERFLIES, MOUNTAIN LIONS, OWLS, SALAMANDERS, WILD PIGS, WINTER BIRD, and GRAY WOLVES (see my review of these books under THE MOON OF THE OWLS). They had simple black-and-white drawings for illustrations and went out of print. Then in the early nineties the books were republished in handsome hardcover versions, with spectacular full-color paintings to complement Ms. George's original writing. Sadly, these books again went out of print. But now the thirteen books have been republished! They have been condensed into four paperbacks that revolve around the different seasons; AUTUMN MOON and WINTER MOON have already come out, SPRING and SUMMER MOON will be out in spring of 2002. At last this enchanting nature writing has been made easily available. The books are sure to be enjoyed by any person, young or old, who appreciates the natural world, its seasons, and its creatures. WINTER MOON features four stories--THE MOON OF THE WINTER BIRD (December), MOLES (December-January), OWLS (January), and BEARS (February). They are captivating and enjoyable, and very descriptive. Each one resonates with the kind of chilly coziness, combined with a sense of gloom and antagonism, that comes in winter time. You will shiver with the little song sparrow under the December moon; find your way through the underground darkness of a mole's lair; fly with the great horned owl through the Catskill Mountains; and wait for winter to be over with the hibernating black bear. Ms. George's words are lively and interesting and will draw you right into the stories. Also, some of the paintings from the early 90's versions of the books have been reproduced; however, they are not as fine quality to portray the scenes as wonderfully as they did in the out-of-print hardcover versions. Still, it is nice that they were included in the new paperback books. The colors are rich and accurate; I wish that more had been included. Jean Craighead George has written almost 100 books for young naturalists, among them JULIE OF THE WOLVES, MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN, the ONE DAY. . .series, and the ECO-MYSTERIES, so check these out as well. Also, musician Chris Kubie has released a spellbinding CD of the Thirteen Moons entitled MUSIC OF THE THIRTEEN MOONS. Read along with the music and you're sure to find a very enjoyable reading experience.
Book Description
From flying hot-blooded squirrels and diminutive kinglets to sleeping black bears and torpid turtles to frozen insects and frogs, the animal kingdom relies on staggering evolutionary innovations to survive winter. Unlike their human counterparts, who alter the environment to accommodate physicallimitations, most animals are adapted to an amazing range of conditions. In Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival, biologist, illustrator, and award-winning author Bernd Heinrich explores his local woods, where he delights in the seemingly infinite feats of animal inventiveness he discovers there.
Because winter drastically affects the mostelemental component of all life -- water -- radical changes in a creature's physiology and behavior must take place to match the demands of the environment. Some creatures survive by developing antifreeze; others must remain in constant motion to maintain their high body temperatures. Even if animals can avoid freezing to death, they must still manage to find food in a time of scarcity, or store it from a time of plenty.
Beautifully illustrated throughout with the author's delicate drawings and infused by his inexhaustible enchantment with nature, Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival awakens thewonders and mysteries by which nature sustains herself through winter's harsh, cruel exigencies.
Customer Reviews:
Nature doesn't answer to science........2007-01-27
Heinrich would better serve Nature and his spirit if he were a naturalist, rather than a scientist. His methods of collecting information are, at times, destructive.
Killing life as a means of obtaining knowledge about the individual shows impatience and proves laziness.
Also, I find that studying "wild" animals in a lab environment is, not only, unreliable, but also inhumane. Information gathered as such, should be disregarded, for animals removed from their natural environments, and subjected to captivity by their predators (i.e. humans) have noticeable changes in their behavior. Any and all conclusions cannot be relied upon.
Aside from those two notable nuisances, the book was a good read and very well authored.
A book of marvels.......2005-12-15
Do bees defecate in their hives if it's too cold to make the necessary dash outside? Why don't hibernating black bear lose bone mass and develop sores like a bed-ridden human? How does the 5 gram golden-crowned kinglet (about the size of a large humming bird) survive a northern winter?
I suppose the intelligent design folks can explain all of these mysteries without even strapping on their snow shoes, so let us be doubly grateful for naturalists like Bernd Heinrich who learn and test and publish the exact mechanisms for survival in the stark northern winter. There is so much wonder to be had from the truth.
Heinrich is interested in learning how such disparate survival traits such as hibernation and migration actually evolved, and he takes his reader on his journeys of discovery. One of the questions that he answers in "Winter World" concerns the migration of the monarch butterfly.
Do the same monarchs who journeyed up to 4500 kilometers to "twelve extraordinarily small patches of pines and firs" in Mexico, survive to return to their summer haunts in the eastern United States?
Due to an interesting bit of biochemical sleuthing that the author shares with us, we learn that it requires up to four generations of monarchs to make the long journey back to their northernmost breeding grounds.
For that matter, why do monarchs migrate to those small overwintering sites in the Transvolcanic Mountains of Michoacan? Why do these particular butterflies bother to migrate at all?
It is amazing how many winter survival traits involve shivering, and the small temperature range in which animals such as monarchs and bats can shiver and survive. Monarchs migrate to a small area that has exactly the right winter temperature range, and as the author says, "it is a sobering thought that most of the [monarch] population of eastern North America could be wiped out by an irresponsible woodcutter with a chain saw."
According to E. O. Wilson, "Heinrich is a scientist and naturalist of the first rank." He is also a writer who can lead his reader further and further into the winter woods, following a trail of fascinating detail and discovery.
One of the mysteries that lured the author and his ecology students into the woods is the presence of the elusive golden-crowned kinglet. Why doesn't this particular bird migrate?
Monarchs migrate. Robins migrate. So why not kinglets?
Gradually, through the course of many winters, Heinrich and his students discover how these little birds survive. One of the last of the delicate line drawings in this book enlightens us on how kinglets endure the harsh nighttime temperatures of a Maine winter: it shows two of these birds fluffed out and huddled together in a miniature snow cave on a spruce branch--an accidental discovery made by one of Heinrich's students.
This is truly a book of marvels.
Somewhat slow reading but very interesting.......2005-07-15
This book describes terrestrial life in the cold reaches of the world, emphasis on the forests of Canada and the Northern states of the USA. The text is written in first person in a diary format of the author traveling thru and living in winter environments. This format is punctuated with occassional asides to elaborate on scientific issues. The colors are black and white illustrations which are unfortunate for a nature book, but it does keep the purchase price down.
The book itself starts of somewhat slow, but is interesting enough to keep you going. The author describes how various animals living in cold climates have evolved to survive and even succeed. I learned many things in this book that I was unaware of. For instance, birds and mammals are not "warm blooded" in the strictest sense of the word. Specifically, many birds and mammals have body temperatures that fluctuate in cycles to keep track with outside temperatures. Man has a 24-hour cycles to match day-night transitions; during this cycle our body temperature changes by 1 - 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Bears and other hibernating mammals have seasonal cycles to match the change in seasons. The body temperature of a hibernating bear can be 20 - 40 degrees lower than that of an active bear.
Conversely, many other animals that are considered "cold-blooded" in most high-school science textbooks actually are not. For example, a lot of insects living in cold climates will huddle together and shiver to keep their body temperature elevated above the ambient temperature.
Overall, I am glad I read this book, and would recommend it to other people.
Cold is a relative thing.......2005-02-12
Have you ever had your leg in a cast? And when the cast comes off your leg is small and wrinkled because of the muscle atrophy that took place during the weeks of inactivity while the cast was on? Have you ever wondered what a bear looks like when it comes out of hibernation, having spent 3 or more months lying around mostly sleeping? Are its muscles smaller? Bernd Heinrich's mind thinks like that, putting such questions together and then he goes off in search of an answer.
If you only weigh a few ounces and are covered in feathers and it's -30 deg outside tonight, how do you live till morning? And why is it a good thing if there's fluffy snow on that evergreen tree? Heinrich knows.
This book is all about how animals live through brutal weather, and the word "ingenuity' in the title is a fine descriptor. For us indoor folk, 20 deg is cold, but for some animals who can make it to -40, that's a cakewalk, and Heinrich will tell you how they do it. It's a wonderful set of stories and observations and scientific fact about many different animals.
I still don't know how it came to be that I found a turtle dying in my garden on a 10 deg day recently (why was he/she out in the first place?), but I know more about why I'd better go fill my birdfeeders before the sun sets so the birds will literally have energy to burn when it's 15 deg tonight!
Where are all the animals in winter?.......2005-01-31
I picked up this book because, living in the northeast, I wondered what happened to all of the animals in wintertime. Which ones hibernate? Which ones migrate? Which ones die? And I wasn't disappointed. Heinrich provides ample explanations, in understandable language, of what happens to squirrels, birds, insects, turtles, trees, and others (although there isn't much about fish). He is also a fantastic nature writer, weaving simple but elegant stories in and out of the science, stories mostly set in his two main observation sites, Vermont and Maine. And the overriding theme of the whole book is the battle of animals to regulate their temperatures and metabolisms to avoid freezing, in the harsh food conditions of winter. This is good introductory reading for anyone with questions about winter survival.
Average customer rating:
- "Put away your field lens"
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Wintering
Diana Kappel-Smith
Manufacturer: Little Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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Night Life: Nature from Dusk to Dawn
ASIN: 0316482994 |
Customer Reviews:
"Put away your field lens".......2000-08-03
As I recall, I read this book about ten years ago, at, appropriately, the time of the winter solstice, but, because of several moves and several redistributions,lendings, shufflings, etc., I realize that this fine book is, unfortunately, no longer in my possession, but I recommend it highly as a way to emerse yourself, vicariously, in the winter landscape of rural Vermont. Diana kappel-Smith admonishes herself to--and this is a paraphrase--"put away the field lens" and "burrow yourself, like the vole, into the snow." This is truly a celebration of winter in which the reader becomes the vole, the owl, the fox through the authors vivid descriptions and narratives. The author and the reader become the woods, the snow, the trees, the rocks, the sky! Who needs the handlens when they've already become the thing they would discover under the glass!? Great! Written with the enthusiasm of the novice and the expertise of the trained naturalist!
Book Description
D. Julius Loeb alternately lives and works on islands in the American Pacific Northwest and the South Pacific. An oil painter and builder, Loeb has successfully avoided meaningful work most of his life. He did succumb to multiple relationships (marriages and otherwise) with some of the world's most remarkable women. Loeb has the great fortune to leave his mark on the planet through four wonderful children who luckily all take after their mothers. Lately Loeb, the ever-lucky rouge, has been further blessed with grandchildren and the promise of more. Life, he says, is too important to be taken seriously.
Book Description
Pierre, the 14-year-old hero of The Broken Blade, spends a winter with the North West Company in the wilderness of French Canada. The canoe-men build a camp beside an Ojibwa village, and Pierre learns the deep-winter survival skills and secrets of the fur traders and trappers. Surviving in close quarters with the repulsive bowman Beloit is a challenge, but friendship with an Ojibwa brave opens up a rich new world to Pierre.
Customer Reviews:
A must read book for any age.......2005-11-10
This book is about a thirteen year old boy named Pierre who becomes a voyeger and spends two years in northern Wisconsin, Michigan, and Canada. He works for the North West Company with a good friends La Pettite, Beliot a sheer chatter box, louie a new comer to the company like Pierre was two years ago. They build a trading post in an indian village. Pierre expeirences many crazy and wild adventures wile with his crewmembers in the northern woods.
This book is filled with courage trust and most of all friendship. A perfect book an adventure loving person who likes the outdoors.
A Great Story.......2002-02-12
I normally don't like when books are assigned in school, but this one turned out to be a great story. Lots of adventure, exitement, and good description. I'd recommend it to everyone.
An ok book...not that interesting.......2002-01-12
Wintering is about Pierre, a thirthteen-year-old boy, boy spends the summer of 1800 paddling and portaging a canoe twenty-four hundred miles into the French Canadian wilderness. When He is fourteen-year-old he becomes an hivernant who traps and trades furs with a crew in the North. He had to spend months in closed quaters with a teasing bowman and his leader that trys to push pierre into reading in english. Pierre becomes really close friends with an Ojibwe, who welcomes Pierre La Page into the his family.
If you like French and understand French, adventure, love the wild, and like Indians then Wintering is the book for you.
Wintering is another fine adventure!.......2001-12-07
In contrast to The Broken Blade, the most gripping parts of Wintering take place within Pierre La Page, fourteen-year-old and hivernaut. As Pierre grapples with grief he makes many decisions about the sort of man he will become. His friendship with Red Loon, his view of himself as a scholar, and his dawning understanding that people may be more than they seem all point to the path ahead, should Durbin continue it. There is less trader lore, but in its place is a glimpse into the daily routines of Native Americans of the North.
This is such a fine adventure that it has even received rave reviews from my fussiest middle school readers.
A Must Read.......2000-01-01
Wintering is a must read book for anyone who loves tales of wilderness adventure and growing up. Though I would recommend reading The Broken Blade first, this story works perfectly well as a stand-alone tale, too. The setting and the characters--especially the evil Beloit, who grows remarkably in depth from Durbin's first book--are depicted with vivid realism. Adults will enjoy this story as much as younger readers will.
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Atlas of Wintering North American Birds: An Analysis of Christmas Bird Count Data
Terry Root
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Birdwatching
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ASIN: 0226725391 |
Book Description
The Atlas of Wintering North American Birds represents the effects of thousands of people who have participated in the Christmas Bird Counts, an annual event sponsored since 1900 by the National Audubon Society. Unlike a conventional field guide, the Atlas doesn't show what birds look like, but rather tells where to find them in the winter months.
Terry Root has used the data from the 1963-72 counts to provide the first large-scale biogeographical account of birds wintering in North America. Using sophisticated computer techniques, Root has translated the data into both traditional contour maps and innovative new maps that stimulate three dimensions. The maps show at a glance that, for example, the Baltimore Oriole winters primarily along the eastern seaboard, with the densest populations in Florida between Tallahassee and Gainesville and in North Carolina from Rocky Mount to the Croatan National Forest.
Average customer rating:
- Stunning Illustrations!
- 10 stars at least!
- A poetic and beautifully-illustrated look at winter
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Winter Lullaby
Barbara Seuling
Manufacturer: Voyager Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Bedtime & Dreaming
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When Winter Comes
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Animals in Winter (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1)
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Time to Sleep (An Owlet Book)
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Mothers are Like That
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In My New Yellow Shirt
ASIN: 0152168087 |
Book Description
When winter comes, animals must adapt. Sometimes they fly away to warmer destinations, sometimes they go to sleep in snug nests, and sometimes they just cuddle up with the ones they love.
Winter Lullaby will warm every child's heart on even the coldest winter nights.
Customer Reviews:
Stunning Illustrations!.......2000-12-05
This is one of the most beautiful books we own. The words have a nice rhythm and are interesting and educational. The pictures are outstanding. When we read, my four year old son usually picks his dinosaur or truck books, but this is one I choose and he doesn't object.
10 stars at least!.......1999-11-22
This book is WONDERFUL! Each two page layout is a painting unto itself! It's so sweet in it's storytelling... the story blends so wonderously with the paintings. I can't hardly describe it. Just get it or check it out at your library.
A poetic and beautifully-illustrated look at winter.......1999-01-10
This is the perfect book to curl up with on a cold, wintry day. Beautifully illustrated, with a minimal, poetic text, it explains in question-and-answer format how the natural world experiences the approach of winter. The lush, double-page illustrations gradually move from warm, autumnal vistas as the story begins, through to overhead views of snowy fields and icy underwater scenes, accompanied by simple explanations of how the animals in these habitats prepare for the arrival of winter. The final illustrations are of two children returning from a sledding trip on a snowy evening to their cozy, welcoming home, where their father gathers them in his lap and reads them a bedtime story by firelight. A favorite of both my daughters, ages 20 months and 4 years--and of mine.
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