Synopses & Reviews
Includes a Fold-out Commemorative Quarter Collector!
The perfect guide for your next family adventure, this fun-filled book explores more than 75 U.S. parks, monuments, and landmarks, from Maine's Acadia National Park to California's Sequoia National Park.
From Yellowstone to the Statue of Liberty, from Gettysburg National Battlefield to Mount Rushmore, National Parks is the only kid-friendly, family-oriented book that covers all of the U.S. national parks, plus famous monuments and landmarks. With a lively text and hundreds of color illustrations and photographs throughout, it offers fascinating, memorable information on every aspect of the parks, such as the history, geography, natural wonders, native wildlife and birds, and unique features that make each park special.
Organized alphabetically by state, National Parks takes readers on a whirlwind trip to 75 locations, including Denali National Park, Hot Springs National Park, Everglades National Park, Fort McHenry, White Mountain National Forest, Ellis Island, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Zion National Park, Block Island National Wildlife Refuge, Mt. Hood National Forest, and many more.
Also included are dozens of activities, such as quizzes, word and picture hunts, and car games, as well as a detachable national-park quarter collector, so kids can collect each of the 56 commemorative quarters to be issued by the U.S.
Review
This sharply designed, fascinating guide to America’s landmarks, parks, and other pristine areas should inspire many a road trip. Arranged alphabetically by state, polished spreads feature original and vintage graphics, history, and information about wildlife for each region. Grainy WPA posters of the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Zion National Park contribute to the book’s strong sense of history, and monuments like the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site and Mount Rushmore are also highlighted. Includes an album for storing commemorative quarters. PW Starred Review
Review
This year, the U.S. National Park Service's National Park Week is April 21-29. During the week, all national parks offer free admission. Brush up on your history with this fact-filled look at more than 75 U.S. parks, monuments and landmarks. The book's featured parks include the massive Yosemite National Park, Ellis Island (home of the Statue of Liberty) and the National Park of American Samoa, the only U.S. national park south of the equator. The colorful book is also filled with vintage illustrated Work Projects Administration (WPA) posters created to publicize various parks and landmarks. As a bonus, the back of the book includes a removable collector map for the 56 America the Beautiful quarters. It's a Junior Ranger's dream! Time for Kids Magazine
Review
NATIONAL PARKS: A KID'S GUIDE TO AMERICA'S PARKS, MONUMENTS, AND LANDMARKS provides a handy reference and consideration of our national park system and packs in illustrations, photos, and discussions of the history of parks, landmarks, natural wonders and more. From the ages of natural wonders and facts about the national park system's evolution to sidebars of illustrated facts and trivia, this is designed as a leisure-reading reference perfect for both browsing and reports. The Midwest Book Review
Review
It's easy to overlook guides. They can be unassuming, but if your library is like mine, these guides to plants, gemstones, dogs, and horses have a lot of quiet fans. It makes sense - were nonfiction books to be rated on a facts per square inch scale (heretofore known as f.p.s.i.), guides would score high. In terms of reader appeal, this isn't to be overlooked. But for whatever reason, guides are often an afterthought. Let's start the sprucing up here then, with a well-constructed handbook to America's national parks.
After a brief introduction on the history of the national parks, things start to get more specific. Parks are categorized by state, with each one given a short, fact-filled description. Surrounding these blocks of text are photos, vintage illustrations, captions, call-outs, factoids and additional information. Each park features a "By the Numbers" section, listing notable dates and data, and an "Amazing but True" fact that leans toward the unexpected. Additionally, "The Great American Birdwatch" puts a spotlight on species that you might find at each stop. While the book covers 75 or so, the list of national parks is long (Alaska alone has eight), making this more of a long list of highlights rather than a comprehensive resource.
The design of National Parks is a strength. Vibrant photographs and bold fonts mix nicely with retro illustrations. It's a book that young readers will be drawn to.
Guides may not be the hippest things in your collection, but for certain kids, they're some of the most valuable. Get your hands on National Parks - young naturalists (or even kids stuck on a road trip against their will) will be glad you did.
Review
"A welcome demonstration of the breadth of possibilities in scientific work"
and#8212;Kirkus
Synopsis
The national parks have been called "America's best idea" -- and some of the best scientific ideas are happening right now inside these protected American spaces that welcome more than 270 million visitors each year. Meet up with scientists studying geysers, grizzlies, salamanders, cacti, and fireflies in some of America's most treasured places: our national parks. Another great addition toand#160;the Scientists in the Field series for ages 10 to 14.
Synopsis
America's National Parks are protected places and have become living museums for as many as 270 million visitors per year! In addition, researchers are able to perform long term studies of a wide number of subjects fromand#160;salamanders the size of thumbnails to giganticand#160;geothermal geysers. These parks are natural laboratories for scientists. Did you know that Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming sits on top of an active (and very large) volcano? This volcano is monitored and studied on a daily basis, not only as a means of protection (though it seems a long way off from erupting) but also as a way of understanding how the environment changes and influences what goes onand#160;deep underground.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The scientists profiled in The Park Scientists also study grizzly bears in Yellowstone, the majestic Sagauro catci in Arizona, and fireflies in Tennessee --and#160;and suggestand#160;many ways for the average reader of any age to help out. The emphasis here is twofold: the great science that happens everyday in these important, protected spaces, and the fact that you can visit all of them and participate in the research.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; It's backyard science at its biggest and best in this latest resourceful addition to the Scientists in the Field series!
About the Author
Neal Aspinall is an illustrator whose work has appeared on t-shirts, patches, and mugs in National Park gift shops. He has also created art for an ad partnership between Amtrak and the National Park Service. His clients include Target, Pepsi, and Macy's. He has received awards from Communication Arts, Graphis, Society of Illustrators, the Print Regional Design Annual, and has been inducted into the Institute of Art of Colorado's Hall of Fame. He lives in Wauwatosa, WI.Erin McHugh is a former publishing executive and author of more than a dozen books, including The Little Road Trip Handbook. She is also the author of several of the books in Black Dog and Leventhal's State Shape series. She resides in New York City and South Dartmouth, Massachusetts.