More Wild Critters. Verse by: Tim Jones. Photography by: Tom Walker. (1998).

My son got this book for Easter, and I put it on the bookshelf in his room without even looking at it, I was just looking for one more book to add to my blog when I discovered this treasure. The book is a collection of 22 poems about Alaska's wildlife written by Tim Jones. Each poem has a beautiful photograph or collection of photographs of the animals in the poems. One of my favorites is called Critters in the Garden, by Tim Jones.

"When I go walking in the woods,

I never see a thing,

I never see animal,

on hoof or paw or wing.

There are some big ones out there;

that I know of for a fact.

So how can something

big as a deer, even hide it's rack?

I guess I'll just keep walking,

ever on my guard.

Someday I hope I'll see

some kind of critter in my yard."

Next to the poem is a beautiful photograph of a Mule deer with antlers hiding in the brush. The poems are wonderful, and the photographs really grab you. This book is wonderful; I think it would be enjoyed by children and adults.

About the Author: Tim Jones has lived in Alaska since 1973. He has been a boat captain, a commercial fisherman, a home builder, he has lived in the Bush and has voyaged on the ocean. He will occasionally fall back on his experience as an editor to make a living, "when necessary", as he said. He has written Wild Critters (1992), More Wild Critters (1998), Keep the Round Side Down (1994), Race Across Alaska  (1988), and Alaska and the Last Great Race (1981).

http://alaskanwritersdirectory.com/authors/jones_tim.shtml

Genre: Poetry

Theme: Poetry, wild animals

Grade Level: Amazon recommends ages 4-8 but I think this is a great book for all ages.

Pre-reading activity: Students should have a discussion about animals that they see in the wild. They should discuss what they think about the animals they see everyday and that they see every once in awhile. What do they look like? What do they act like? Do they remind you of anything?

Post-reading activity: After reading, students should write their own poem about an animal that they have seen, or know a lot about. They should also draw a picture of this animal in it's habitat to go along with their poem.

Living Wild- Bats. By: Melissa Gish

Living Wild: Bats by Melissa Gish is a great information book on bats. It is full of engaging photographs and passages teaching readers so much about bats. I did a Unit Plan on bats during my student teaching experience. Our goal was to teach students about Bats, and show them that they are not scary vampires, but rather that they are very important part of our world. I would have loved to use this book during the unit. I was always looking for good books on bats so that children could do some of their own research on bats. 

Genre: Non Fiction, informational, Animals

Theme/Skill: Students will learn how to get information about animals from a nonfiction book.

Grade Level: 2-6

Pre-reading Activity: Teacher will take a poll of who in the class likes bats. Then there will be a class discussion about what students think they know about bats.

Post-reading Activity: Students should record three things that they learned from the book. They should share these three things with a partner.

Living Wild- Gorillas. By Melissa Gish

Living Wild: Gorillas by Melissa Gish is a wonderful information book filled with facts and photographs of gorillas. I enjoyed going through this book, because I do not know a lot about gorillas. For example, I did not know that gorillas may live for 30 to 50 years, and that they reach maturity between the ages of 10 to 13 years. Female will begin mating around the age of 10, and will generally give birth once every 3 to 4 years. The Females are allowed to breed with only the silverback gorillas of their troop. When the blackbacks reach full maturity, and grow silver hair, they leave their family troops and gather their own troops of unrelated females. The gorillas will not mate with siblings or with unrelated gorillas they have grown up with. This is fascinating to me, because I had not known any of that. The gorillas seem like a very sophisticated animal. I really enjoyed going through this book.

Genre: Nonfiction, Informational, Animals

Theme/Skill: Students will learn to research gorillas using informational text and photographs.

Grade Level: 2-6

Pre-reading Activity: Students should pick an animal they want to research. Students will get into groups of 4. This group will have picked gorillas. Students will write a list of things they think they know about gorillas and things that they want to find out. Then students will read together.

Post-reading Activity: In the same groups, students will record things they learned about gorillas. They will decide what they think was important and interesting and will share with the other groups in the class who researched other animals.