Well, we’re getting back to our regular routine around here. We might go back to West this week sometime, but for now we’re home. Home is good. It’s nice to have a home. I’m still worried about all those dogs and cats that don’t have homes anymore. It seems that bit by bit they’re finding their people though. That’s a good thing. There are a lot of people doing some very good things for those folks in West.
Here in Glen Rose, we’re back to books! And our own school! And our own library! And on the menu for today — Mammoths!!!! On library night the boys picked out a real whopper! Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler and illustrated by Kurt Cyrus. It was published by Harcourt, Inc. in 2006.
We live in the Land of the Dinosaurs. But I don’t know anything about Mammoths. Just that they’re kind of like hairy Elephants. But this book is awesome! It’s written in rhyme with a lot of repetition and alliteration. (I know about some of those big words! I listen in school!) It starts out with:
Fourteen thousand years ago
the north was mostly ice and snow.
But woolly mammoths didn’t care —
these beasts had comfy coats of hair.
Fuzzy, shaggy, snarly, snaggy,
wonderful, woolly mammoths!
The boys that picked this book out didn’t think that they could read it. But with all the repetition, before they knew it, they were reading like crazy! The story is about the mammoths migrating south for the winter. They encounter lots of hardships along the way. But by winter’s end they reach the south and the promised land! A lake to swim and splash in and trees and grass. And then they have to turn around and head north again!! The boys thought this was the funniest part! It was their favorite part of the book!
The pictures in this book are fabulous. This is a picture of the babies playing in the water. A note in the book says that the illustrations are done in scratchboard and watercolor. I don’t know anything about scratchboard, but it sure makes for great effects! I think I want to find some more of Mr Cyrus’ work.
In the very front of the book, Ms Wheeler has included some factual stuff about mammoths and what science research actually knows about them. Not a whole lot evidently. But this book is informative and fun to read. Me and the boys highly recommend it!
Here’s an interesting video of mammoths. I don’t know how they did this. I didn’t know they had cameras back then. But it’s pretty cool.
Reading With Rhythm 