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A Caribou Journey / A Wooly Mammoth Journey Review by Christine Hindle

University of Chicago Press
www.press.uchicago.edu/
1427 E. 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/index.html

These books are paperbacks of about 30 pages each with gorgeous illustrations. In the back of each book is some information about the subject of the story that will supplement the child's study of the animal.

A Caribou Journey tells about this Arctic animal and its migration patterns, the food it eats, its physical characteristics, its behaviors, and even the origin of its name. The story is interesting to children because it is about a mother caribou and her calf. This is a compelling theme to young children as we have observed in the movie Bambi. Young children are all about their mothers and enjoy stories dealing with mothers and their offspring. My five-year-old granddaughter was entranced by the activities of this caribou calf and its mother.

A Wooly Mammoth Journey tells the story of the now-extinct wooly mammoth. It begins with a tusk being found in the present day and then tells the story of a wooly mammoth family group. Interestingly, mammoths are not the only creatures pictured in the pages of this book. One page shows some Indians, and another page shows some wolves. The information page in the back of the book points out that mammoths died out much more recently than dinosaurs. Then there is some conjecture about the "millions of years / age of the earth" theory which you may want to skip. Another "date" is mentioned on the first page of the story (the one about the tusk being found). The rest of the story is devoid of these types of conjectures.

These are great for supplemental reading when studying animals in science or geography. My granddaughters enjoy learning about animals and devour this type of book. I know these books will be a much used part of our library. I recommend both books for homeschoolers with the exception of the first and last pages of the wooly mammoth book.

Product review by Christine Hindle, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, November 2010

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