Children's books by Brenda Z. Guiberson Brenda's books Brenda's Illustrations the author learning center fun & games
Children's books by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Children's books by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Teddy Roosevelt's Elk Teddy Roosevelt's Elk
Written by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Illustrated by Patrick O'Brien
Henry Holt, 1997

"Suddenly, the great bull charges. Rattle. Crunch. The huge animals rear up and crash together again and again. The calf and his mother stop eating and watch the battle. Whack! The great bull twists quickly and bangs the side of the other elk with his antlers."
It is 1897. As Teddy Roosevelt breaks camp on the western plains, an elk calf is born in the Olympic Mountains. Nearby, a great bull sharpens his antlers, bobwhites call from the sage grass, and a waterfall glitters in the sunlight. In the coming year, the calf will learn much about survival. It will also be a year of enlightenment for Teddy Roosevelt. Soon the become one of the most beloved leaders of the United States, Roosevelt will take steps to conserve the wild places and animals of America so that future generations may enjoy them, too.

This is a story not only about the magnificent elk, but also about an important chapter in American history, an introduction to one of the most influential pioneers of the modern conservation movement, President Theodore Roosevelt.


Reviews:

The author pays tribute to Teddy Roosevelt's achievements in wildlife conservation by noting that, aside from the disappearance of wolves, the lives of the robust elk named after him, of which the largest population survives in Washington State's Olympic National Park, are not much different now than during his lifetime. Between two glimpses of Roosevelt on his sojourn to the Dakota Territory in 1884 --first surveying vast herds of elk and bison in an unspoiled valley, then struggling through a soggy, nightmarish landscape of tree stumps and animal bones a year later, Guiberson sandwiches a brief look at a Mount Olympus elk calf's first year, from birth through mating season to a hard winter's end. Use this to introduce national parks, the conservation movement, an impressive wild animal, or an equally impressive president. --Booklist

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