Mammoths on the Move

I like this book because mammoths can swim under water. My favorite part of the book was when the mammoths headed back up north again (from their migration down south). Other kids would like this book because it happened 10,000 years ago.

I like this book because mammoths are in it. My favorite part was when the mammoths make it to the warm place and then went back to the north.

I liked this book because it has rhyming words. My favorite part of this book was when (the calves) get in the middle (of the herd of female mammoths).

A real charmer for kids who love animals or dinosaurs. Lisa Wheeler did a wonderful job of simplifying the story of migrating mammoths and managed to rhyme the whole book too! This book has 3 factors that make it a true winner of a kids book...1-it rhyimes, 2-it has a prehistoric setting, 3- the artwork is fantastic. I can't say enough about Cyrus's illustrations. They 'pop' right off the pages of this wonderful book.

This wonderful book is the perfect blend of author and illustrator, as the mammoths of 14,000 years ago begin their "treacherous trek south for the winter". During this journey, they will face every obstacle, from raging rivers to terrible storms and the random attacks of predators watching for their unprotected calves. These woolly mammoths are impressive, huge and hairy, long curved tusks protruding, a herd of giants on the move to find a better source of food as the cold send them marching to the south. So the trek begins, each page vivid and dramatic, the text rhymed as the mammoths face their trials: "Rivers ran across their path/ but mammoths didn't mind a bath./ They raised their snorkel-trunks up high/ and swam with noses to the sky." Mile after mile they encounter the elements, the ice, the rivers, the predators lying in wait, each new illustration bringing a new trail to overcome. The back flyleaf reveals that the illustrator set the mood for his winter's task, setting the temperature in his studio on low and bundling himself in layers of "warm, woolly sweaters", recreating the theme of the mammoth's journey. His experiment was a resounding success, an eerie chill seeping from the pages, the lumbering animals covered in heavy layers of snow, as they stare unblinking at the frozen landscape yet ahead. Combining text and image, this is a fascinating view of the world centuries ago, stimulating young minds with the grandeur of nature, the prehistoric mammals and the vast wilderness they inhabited. Luan Gaines/ 2006.