EFAS43-B-94-002
Reading List

   Pre-Kindergarten
          through
         Grade 12

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Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12

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"
Marshes comprise their own form of wilderness. They have
their own life-rich genuineness and reflect forces that are
much older, much more permanent,  and much mightier
than man.*

                        Paul L. Errington, 1957

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                                TABLE OF CONTENTS
 The following books are listed and described in sections  according  to reading level: "Primary,
 Elementary, Intermediate, and Secondary.  Following each section, additional books are listed with the
 section describing the book in parenthesis.

                                                                               Page*

 INTRODUCTION			    !

 PRIMARY LEVEL (Pre-KIndergarten through Grade 2)  	    3

 Box Turtle a: Long Pond, William T. George	-.	•.,...    3
 Come Out, Muskrats, Jim Arnosky	    3
 Common Frog, Oxford Scientific FErns		    3
 Dragonflies, Cynthia Overbeck .'.	    4
 Fish Eyes, Lois Ehleert	         4
 If You Were a Wild Duck Where Would You Go?, George Mendoza	 • . . . . . .  .     4
 Let's Find Out About Frogs, Corrine J. Naden	    5
 Lily Pad Pond, Bianca Lavies	        5
 The Lorax, Dr. Seuss	    5
 Make Way for Ducklings, Robert McCloskey	;	  . .    6-
 The Noisy Counting Book, Susan Schade and Jon Butler	.....1......    6
 Old Mother West Wind, Thornton W. Burgess	    7
 Puddles and Ponds, Rose Wyler	     7
 Rain Drop Splash, Alvin  Tresselt	.........'.....    g
 A River Dream, Allen Say	        8
 River Parade, Alexandria Day	     8
 The Seminole, Emilie U.  Lepthier	:................    9
 Spring Peepers, Judy Hawes	               9
 The Ugly Duckling, Hans Christian Anderson	   9
 Willa in Wetlands, Peyton Lewis ami Rory Chalcraft	'.	              10

 List of Additional Books for Primary Students  	  10


 ELEMENTARY LEVEL (Grades 3 through 5)	         11

Animals and Plants That Trap, Philip Goldstein  '.	   11
Animals of the Ponds and Streams, Julie Becker	   11
Beaver Valley, Walter D.  Edmonds	J...'....	   11
Dragonflies, Hilda Simon	   12
Explore a Spooky Swamp, Wendy W. Cortesi	   12
Frogs, Toads, Lizards and Salamanders, Nancy Winslow Parker and Joan Richards Wright ....  12
From Pond to Prairie, Laurence Pringle	   12
Green Darner, Robert M. McClung	.-....•	   13
In the Middle of the Puddle, Mike Thaler ;	   13

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1!
                                TABLE OF CONTENTS
                                       (Continued)
                                                                             .-  Page*

Island of the Loons, Dayton O. Hyde	»	   14-
Marshes and Swamps, Linda M. Stone	   14
The Mystery of the Great Swamp, Marjorie A. Sapf	   14
Pond and River, Steve Parker	•	   15
The Pond Book,  Albro Gaal  ..	   15
Scoots the Bog Turtle, Judy Cutchins and Ginny Johnston	   15
The Seminole, Martin Lee	•	•	   15
Small Water Mammals, Maxwell Knigfat	   16
Snails of Land and Sea, Hilda Smith	   16
Swan Lake, Mark Helprin	'	  -16
Water Insects, Sylvia A. Johnson	   17
Wetlands, Linda M. Stone	•.	   17
Wetlands: Bogs, Marshes and Swamps, Lewis Buck	   17
Wonders of the Fields and Ponds at Night, Jacquellyn Berrill	"	   18
The World of Fishes, Thomas D. Fagely	   18

List of Additional Books for Elementary Students	   18


INTERMEDIATE LEVEL (Grades 6 through 8) . .	7	   19

Estuaries, Where Rivers Meet the Sea, Laurence Pringle	   19
Everglades  Country,  Patricia Lauber	   19
Exploring the  Great Swamp, George Laycock	   19
Look What I Found,  Marshal T. Case	   20
Misty of Chincoteague, Marguerite Henry	20
The Mystery of the Bog Forest, Lorus J. Milne and Margery Milne		   20
A Naturalist's Sketchbook, Claire Walker Leslie	   21
Of Men and Marshes, Paul L. Errington	   21
Pitcher Plants:  The  Elegant Insect Traps, Carol Leraer	   22
PondLife. George K. Reid	   22
The Snow Goose. Paul Gallico	   23
Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Geographic Society	   23
The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame	   24
The Yearling, Marjorie Rinnan Rawlings  	   24

List of Additional Books for Intermediate Students  	•	• • •   25


SECONDARY LEVEL (Grades 9 through 12)	   26

Adopting a Stream:  A Northwest Handbook, Steve Yates	   26
The Adventures of Huckleberry rmn, Mark Twain . .	   26
Amazon: The Flooded Forest, Michael Goulding	   26

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                                                                                          ai

                                   TABLE OF CONTENTS
                                          (Continued)
                                                                                  .
   Beautiful Swimmers, William W. Warner

                                        '                                                 27
                              .
   Caesars of the Wilderness, Peter C. Newman               .......................  27
   Chesapeake, James A. Michener ____          ................ ......... .......  27
                                      '
        andQark: Pioneering Naturalists, Paul Russell Cartrisht ......................   29
  Life and Death of the Salt Marsh. John and Mildred Teal       .................... •   29
  The New Book of toford Canadian Verse, compiled by Market Atwood ................   3°
  /W*nra or Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard .....       «»rgara Atwood .......... ......   30
  The fond, Robert Murphy  .......... . .......................... .......   31
  The Portable Thoreau, revised  edition by Carl Bode ................ " ............   31
 Runes of the North, SigurdF. Olson ____          ............................   31
 A Sand County Almanac, Aldo  Leopold     ............ .......... '• ...........   32
 Swamp Fox, Robert Duncan Bass . .     ..... '       ' ........................   32
 This Incomparable Lande, Thomas J. Lyon  ..................................  33
 Through the Eyes of a Young Natura!.ist, WiliiamA.' Sip pie .................... ' '  ' '  33
.Walking the Wetlands, Janet Lyons and Sandra Jordan     • ........................  34
 Wandering Through  Winter, Edwin V^ay Teale        ...........................  34-
 The Water is Wide, Pat Couroy   ____ .            " •" ............... • .........  35
 Water Pollution, Kathlyn Gay    •    .............................. ; .......   35
 Wetlands^ William Niering  . . ......... : ............................. ...   36
 Wetlands. Max Firlaison and Michael Moser ..................................   36
                                        .................................   36
List of Additional Books for Secondary Students ........

KEY WETLAND TOPICS
                          ............................................ 38

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                                   WETLANDS READING LIST
                                        INTRODUCTION

         The Wetlands Reading List is an annotated list of printed material that will supplement lesson
  plans and provide students with suggestions for independent reading on wetlands.  The goal of the list
  is to encourage students to explore and develop a respect, understanding and appreciation for wetlands.
  This is an attempt to foster our appreciation of our nation's remaining wetlands.

          The intention is to reach the  whole student, to transcend her/his intellectual understanding and
  to instill  an arts and humanity awareness of a valuable natural resource.  It is hoped that reading the
  books will motivate students to pursue further reading about the wetlands resource and encourage them
  to learn about wetlands through the arts and sciences and through applied hands-on experiences.

         Books  contained in the Wetlands Reading List include different types of literature.  Factual,
  nonfiction, picture books and fiction titles are provided.  Entries are listed alphabetically by grade level
  in the Wetlands Reading List:  primary (pre-kindergarten to grade 2), elementary (grades  3 to 5)
  intermediate (grades 6  to 8) and secondary (grades 9 to 12). Grade level refers to reading level and not
  the level for being read to, except for some .books described at the primary level which may be better
  read to the child.  They are listed here because their large and abundant pictures and easy to follow story
  make them suitable for the primary grade level.        '

        The target age of many books extends beyond the one grade level in which they have been placed
 It is  recommended the  educator does not limit her/himself 4o the grade she/he  teaches but to consider
 books in adjacent grade categories.  A list of these books and the grade  level under which they are"
 discussed is located at the end of each section. The number of entries under each section varies  as does
 the information for each listing.  Each title cites the author, publisher, date published, page length and
 grade range, and is classified by a special code as indicated below:

        E  = Easy Reader (picture books)
        F  = Fiction
        NF = Nonfiction
        SC = Story Collection, Anthologies

        Following the citation is a siaranary and comment.  The summary, written in phrases, sentences
 or sentence fragments, is intended to capture the essence of the book, be it plot or factual material.  The
 comment provides more in-depth background information on the book and its significance in respect to
 the wetlands  resource.  Quotes are often included with an entry.

        Most important is where one  might find the books listed  in  the Wetlands Reading List.  An
 asterisk (*) after a title indicates a book is in print and available through a book shop.  If it is not on the
 shelf, many bookstores  will special order a book.  Many of the books may  be obtained at a children's
 library, local public  library, a school library, county or city park or  environmental education center,
 children s book store or nature section  in a book shop.  Some are available  through organizations such
as the Sierra  Club or the National Geographic Society.

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       The Wetlands Reading Listh not intended to be inclusive of every book ever written on wetlands
or to endorse the books listed here.  There are many other excellent publications for children on wetlands.
For example, the Wetlands Reading List does not begin to list every book—and there are many good
publications—written on dragonflies.  Titles serve as suggestions for starting points for the  inquiring
student and teacher seeking information on wetlands.  .Students and teachers are encouraged to expand
their horizons beyond the list, to refer to other books by the same and other authors and to search out
books covering similar subjects as those contained herein. A list of suggested topics and key words is
provided in the back.

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                                PRIMARY  LEVEL
                             (Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 2)
BOX TURTIF AT LONG POND*. WilliamT. George. Greenwillow Books, New York; 1989;_30 p.;
pre-kindergarten to grade 2; E

Summary:     Compelling paintings of pond and surrounding community will captivate and appeal to
              children as favorite place to visit. Begins with box turtle emerging from its home in log
              to spend busy day in pond community looking for food, avoiding being eaten and finding
              shelter during rain.                                  -

Comment:     Many ponds, including their shallow vegetated edges, are wetlands. Like many wetland
              environments, there are numerous animals and plants that are residents  of the pond
              community.  It is important to note that similar to other wetlands, many of the paintings
              in Box Turtle at Long Pond do not show water.  Many wetlands like the bottomland
              community along the pond are wet only part of the year. They are considered wetlands
              because they are wet during the growing season long enough to support plants that occur
              in other wetlands.
COME OUT. MUSKRATS*. Jim Arnosky.
28 p.; pre-kindergarten to grade 2; NF
Lothrop. Lee and Shepard Books, New York;  1989;
Summary:     Colorful, realistic, pastel illustrations of wetlands.  In late afternoon, muskrats come out
              of houses to swim in shallow wetlands and eat green water weeds, swim between water
              lilies and race among cattails until dawn.

Comment:     Award winning artist, writer and naturalist presents the picture story, Come Out Muskrats
              in his typical, accurate  style.   The muskrats are depicted as part of the  wetland
              community with other wildlife  naturally found  in wetlands,  such  as  the Common
              Yellowthroat (a warbler), Wood Ducks and sunfish, as well as other animals such as deer
              and a fox, that frequent wetlands during the day to feed or drink.  Muskrats commonly
              inhabit wetlands, including fresh, brackish, or saltwater marshes, ponds, lakes and rivers.
 COMMON FROG. Oxford Scientific Films.
 kindergarten to grade 4; NF
   G.P.  Putnam's Sons, New  York; 1971; 24 p.;
 Summary:     Superb breathtaking close-up photographs with simple, one sentence captions presenting
              life cycle of the common frog.  A kindergartner could follow the story which is preceded
              by a more detailed  introduction describing the physical habits, characteristics  and
              environment of this species of frog occurring in Europe and United States.

 Comment:     Common Frog was prepared by a British team of renowned zoologists and photographers.
              Frogs and other amphibians, such as toads and newts,  live on land and in  water, and
 * Available through book shops •

 Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction;  SC = Story  Collection

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              often occur in wetlands.  Readers are encouraged to seek out other books on frogs and
              raotibtas in general.  The illustrated portion of the book begins with a scene of a
              wetland and a caption that common frogs live in damp areas, which is typical wetland
              habitat.


               i, Cynthia Overbeck. Lerner Publications, Minneapolis; 1982; 48 p.; grades 1 to 3;
glossary and index; NF

              Attractive and informative!  Provides easy to understand information on dragonflies,
              Briers of wetlands communities.   Explains the Aree stage procs* of
              dtvetopment  these insects undergo beginning in wetlands and other water  bodies.
              Emphasizes the value of dragonflies and that they are not harmful.
              Children are naturally curious about insects and dragonflies are no exception.  It is
              taTportant to remind children dragonflies are not harmful but rather very helpful as they
              Knrnosquhos. Dragonflies are found in many wetlands; some are indicators of good
              water quality. They are part of the food chain.


SSSJ2ES*, Lois Ehleert.  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York; 1990; 34 p.; pre-kindergarten to
grade 1; E

Summary     Simple, easy to understand and written for the very young reader as she or he learns to
Summary.     ^^ebrimamiy colored fish swimming  through the pages.  Actively involves the.
               student in the lives of fishes while teaching the child to count the many fish as they begin
               their life cycle in wetlands. Invites reader to put on a suit of scales, fins and tail then
               swim downriver (from where she or he is born into as a fish, perhaps in  wedand adjacent
               to a river).
 Comment:     Wetlands serve as nurseries for many fish.  Fishes are important members ofthe animal
               kingdom.  They are also important to the food chain and the fishing industry.  In Fish
               Eyes, Lois Ehleert introduces the student to the world of fishes.


 TP VOII WERE A wn n nuCK WHERE WOULD VOU GO?*. George Mendoza.  Stewart, Tabori
 & Chang, Inc., New York;  1990; 32 p.; pre-kindergarten to grade 2; E
                A sophisticated picture with superb drawings and good text. A wild duck narrator looks
                A g^JJP^ environmePnt was bountifui and searches today through the polluted
                environment for a home.
                       You Go? will encourage readers to place value  in savuig and restoring our
                wetlands for the future.
  * Available through book shops •

  Code:  E = Easy Reader; F- Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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 LET'S FIND OUT ABOUT FROGS. Corrine J. Naden. Franklin Watts, Inc., New York; 1972; 44 p;
 grades I to 3; NF

 Summary:     Nice illustrations of frogs in wetlands habitats.  Contains factual material about frogs in
               easy reading format suitable for children in the latter months of grade one to grade three,
               with information on:  differences between frogs and toads,  growth stages from egg to
               tadpole to adult frog and the community in which they live.

 Comment:     Let's Find Out About Frogs is one of many books on frogs, animals that—like other
               amphibians—live part of their life on land and part on water.  All frogs must return to
               water to breed.  They are commonly found  in wetlands, making wetlands important to
               the life cycle of frogs. Other related book topics to look for are tadpoles, amphibians,
               salamanders, and toads.
 LILY PAD POND*. Bianca Lavres. Dulton; 1989; 30 p.; kindergarten to grade 2; E

 Summary:     Colorful, eye-catching book with excellent pictures. Contains good ratio of pictures to
               white space and text—an important feature hi captivating the very young reader.  Has
               nothing specific about mammal and little on plant life. Introduces concept of food chain
               at an easy to understand level.

 Comment:     Organisms are  correctly named.  In Lily Pad Pond, the colorful scenes of ponds and
               other wetlands are entertaining and depicted by easy to understand captions.


THELORAX*. Dr. Seuss.  Random House, New York; 1971;  68 p.; pre-kindergarten to grade 3; E
                                                                                      •
Summary:     A Dr. Seuss book—this one on'the impact of environmental pollution. In the days when
               the grass is still green and the pond still wet,  Once-ler comes to  the glorious place and
               sees the glorious Trufruia Trees growing mile after mile with their bright-colored tufts.
               In his beloved style, Dr. Seuss writes about the pond—

                    "From  the rippulous  pond  came  the   comfortable sound  of  the
                     Humming-Fish humming while splashing around."

              The Once-ler chops down the trees for their tufts, despite the warning of the Lorax, "a
              sort of man ... shortish ... oldish ... mossy ..." Then, the Once-ler builds a factory and
               cuts down  more tufts, selling more  and more tufts he makes  into the  ever-popular
               "Thneed."  Unfortunately, his factory polluted the lands, even the pond:

                    "You're glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed. No more
                     they hum, for their gills are gummed.  So, I'm sending them off.  Oh,
                     their future is dreary. They'll walk on their fins and get woefully weary
                     in search of some water that isn't"so smeary."
* Available through book shops-

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Faction;  NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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             The final pages impart the message that the future of the environment is up to individuals
             as wisened Once-ler tosses the last Trufrula seed to a passerby, saying:

                   "Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with  care ... Unless someone like you
                    cares ... nothing  is going to get better.  Then the Lorax and all his
                    friends can come back."

Comment-    Like his other  classics, Dr. Seuss writes in  his true whimsical style but this time the
        '    message is the impact of greed and human development on the environment. The pond
             and its fishes and swans  are impacted and are forced to- seek  other homes to live  if
             possible. Wetlands, like other resources, are limited.  Only when individuals care for
             and protect wetlands in their community will they be conserved  and restored.

MAKE WAY FOP mJCKLTNGS*. Robert McCloskey. The Viking Press, Inc., New York; 1971;
72 p.; kindergarten to .grade 2; E

Summary-    Simple, well-illustrated drawings of mallards are very realistic!  Begins with "Mr. and
             Mrs  Mallard" looking for  a safe home to raise their family and  attempting to nest in
             Boston Garden which quickly reveals many dangers. Ducks settle in a cozy spot along
             Charles River. Once ducklings hatch, Mr. Mallard departs for  Boston Garden.  Later,
             Mrs. Mallard leads ducklings across traffic  and town to join Mr. Mallard at island in
             Boston Garden.                      .

Comment:    Make Way for Ducklings is a classic story for young children about a family of ducks.
             Ducks and other waterfowl are just one gro'up of wildlife that breeds in wetlands. The.
             loss of wetlands as nesting habitat for ducks through human activity such as draining and
             filling wetlands has greatly reduced the duck population.

              Over ten percent of the Charles River Watershed in the Boston area consists of wetlands
              such as grassy marshes,  swamps .and damp meadows.  The Charles River Watershed
              Association was founded in  1965 in response to  increasing public concern over the
              environment and poor condition of the Charles River.  One  of the many programs
              sponsored by the Charles River Watershed, the Adopt-A-Brook program, enables schools
                  other organizations to care for the wetlands of the Charles  River.
 THE NOISY COUNTING BOOK. Susan Scnade and Jon Butler. Random House, New York; 1987;
 8 p.; pre-kindergarten to grade 1; E

 Summary:    Part of series, A Just Right Book; super-sturdy pages.  Counting book with delightful,
              attractive and funny  illustrations of a boy who goes to fish in a quiet pond but soon
              becomes frustrated as rising noise disrupts quiet when first one frog says, "Ga-Dunk,
              then two ducks say, "Wak," and noise increases until six mosquitos  say,  Bzzz,  at
              which point boy hollers, "QUIET!"
  44444444444444444444444444444444444444444444

  * Available through book shops'
  Code:  E=Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection  .

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 Comment:      The Noisy Counting Book contains excellent representations of a pond that captures the
                essence of one type of wetlands with animals and plants that occur naturally in these
               areas.
 OLD MOTHER WEST WIND*. Thornton W. Burgess. Henry Holt and Co., New York; 1990; 90 p.;
 pre-kindergarten to grade 4; F                            . •

 Summary:     Full color edition with extraordinary illustrations of this  classic, the first of the Old
               Mother "West Wind series, which was first published .in  1910,  will stimulate children's
               imagination.  Stories involve many characters living in wetlands and other bodies of
               water: Jerry Muskrat, Billy Mink, Little Joe Otter, Spotty the Turtle and  many more.
               The following is a passage from chapter, "Little Joe's Slippery Slide at the Smiling
               Pool," which children will enjoy:

                      "Peter Rabbit kept coming nearer and nearer until finally he stood at the
                      top of the slippery slide.  Billy Mink crept up behind him very softly and
                      gave him a push.  Peter Rabbit's long legs flew out from under him and
                      down he sat with a thump on the slippery slide.   "Oh," cried Peter
                      Rabbit, and tried to stop himself.  But he couldn't do it and so away he
                      went down the slippery slide, splash  into the Smiling Pool."

 Comment:     Stories from Old Mother  West Wind with  their mischievous characters like Billy Mink
               (above) are part of an American childhood.  A major influence on children's literature,
               Thornton Burgess has written over 50 books  for children, many on the lives of animals
               living in wetlands.  Look for other titles of T. Burgess on  individual animals from Old
               Mother West Wind mat inhabit wetlands.  His works  emphasize the importance of
               wetlands to the  lives of many animals.  Burgess' books are ideal for reading to pre-
               kindergarten children.


PUDDLES AND PONDS*.  Rose Wyier. J.  Messner, New York; 1990; 32 p.; grades 1 to 3; NF .

Summary:     Attractively illustrated; describes some of the many living  things inhabiting or visiting
               puddles and  ponds.   Information  generally  accurate.  Suggested hands-on activities
               throughout book.                                  .   .

Comment:     Bodies of water such as puddles and ponds are often wetlands. Often wetlands are areas
               that are so shallow that plants grow completely across them or  that may be dry during
               long periods of the year. Puddles and Ponds is also about wetlands.  Some activities are
               well-suited to the primary reader, ages 6 to 8, while others lack sufficient instructions
               and could  end in failure.  Teachers need to be careful and suggest the reader  seek
               assistance if difficulties arise.
* Available through book shops

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF=Nonfiction;  SC = Story Collection

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      pppp SPLASH*. Alvin Tresselt.
kindergarten to grade 2; E
                                      Lbthrop, Lee and Sheperd Co., New York; 1965; 17 p;
Summary:
Comment:
Comment:
             Picture book simple story; raindrops begin to fall and eventually form a puddle which
             !£T£L™«s' aTond wta water lilies and fish. Raindrops continue as pond spills over
             ** SwSi bSer fish and pickerel we*d  and Red-winged Blackbirds, .Raindrops
             flood farms, roadTand cities and .impact all life, people included.

             In addition to Rain Drop Splash, Alvin Tresselt also wrote Beaver Pond, a wetland boo£
             to addiuon ipjwBi  _^         important benefit of wetlands: their natural ability


                          and flooding with illustrations depicting wetlands absorbmg water run-off
                                wetlands reduce flood peaks during storms. Tneir loss can incre^e

             flooding.
                 *, Allen Say. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston; 1988; 32 p.; grades 1 to 3; E
 s«     BJ1^«^^^
               of the box and Mark follows them outdoors to find a river has replaced his street  He
               climbs into a boat.  Rowing, he sees his uncle fishing, joins him, catches magnificent
               wtta *° shaUow waters id faces a tough choice whether to keep the trout or release
               it and leave the river as he found it.

               Many wetlands occur along rivers. A River Dream brings together a touching story of
               Tooy's adventure and step toward maturity with two of the many opportunities r.vers,
               wetlandsTan? oft* bodies of water provide: fishing and  boating. The shimmering
               paintings reveal the intrinsic beauty of wetlands and rivers.


         PARADE*. Alexandria Day. Viking, New York; 1990; 36 p.; kindergarten to grade 2; E
  Summary:
  Comment:
              Great splashes of shimmering watercolor mirroring the hot summer day on the .
              Young boy rides up a river with his father on a hot summer day, with his toys.  One by
              a» ^c£ toy falls into the water, and finally, so does the boy, finding  it wonderful

              swimming.

              River Parade contains nice representations of wetlands along the river  witih majshy
              veg^tion 4 and mallard ducks. It depicts important wetlands values, including good
              water quality, plant and animal life, and recreation.
  * Available through book shops -

  Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF-Nonflction;  SC = Story Collection

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TTTF. SEMINOLE*. Emilie U. Lepthier. Children's Press, Chicago; 1985; 48 p.; grades 1 to 2; index;
NF                     •

Summary-     Easy reading with abundant photographs from the New-True-Book Series.  Traces the
              history of the Seminole Indians, who were, originally from the Creek Tribe in Georgia
              and Alabama but were forced south to Florida swamps, to the Everglades and  Big
              Cypress Swamp.  Describes events of the three Seminole Wars  in the  1800's and the
              tactics  used by the Seminoles to strike at the settlers then disappear in the swamps.
              Depicts the life of the Seminoles in Florida today.

Comment:     Author Emilie U. Lepthier describes the Seminole way of life in the swamp, including
              information on their education and government, village life, ability to sustain .themselves
              by hunting and fishing, handicrafts and present way of life.  (This is not the same book
              as the one listed by same title under Elementary Level by Martin Lee.)


SPRING  PEEPERS. Judy  Haws.   Thomas  Y.  Crowell  Company,  New York;  1975; 34 p.;
kindergarten to grade 2; NF

Summary:     Attractively illustrated with large colorful drawings of peepers.  Describes the peeper,
              how to look for peepers, the different kinds of peepers or tree frogs in the United States
              and even includes the song of the tiny Coqui of Puerto Rico, "ko-KEE, ko-KEE."

Comment:     Spring Peepers is actually about tree frogs that return to the water, particularly wetlands,
              to mate in the spring and can be heard in the-evening in marshy, wet places, including.
              puddles and ditches.  Spring Peepers is highly recommended for learning about life in
              wetlands.  Wetlands play an important role in the life cycle of spring peepers, for this
              is where many hatch into tadpoles,  emerge as tree frogs and return to breed.


THE UGLY DUCKLING*. Hans Christian Anderson, English text by Anne Stewart. Greenwillow
Books, New York; 1982; grades 1 to 3; F

Summary:     Captivating, newly illustrated and interpreted.  Classic fairy tale of badly  treated ugly
              duckling which later emerges as a swan.  Begins in a country surrounded by lakes and
              pools; newly hatched duckling is mocked and laughed at, retreats to a great swamp with
              wild ducks, is nearly killed by hunters and somehow survives the winter in a swamp.
              Duckling  leaves home among the reeds in swamp in spring and finds himself in a "forest
              of rushes and water"  where he looks into his reflection in the water and  finds he has
              emerged as a swan.

 Comment:    The beloved classic, The Ugly Duckling, is easily read to pre-kindergarten  children and
              can be read by children beginning late in the first grade. Many of the settings throughout
              the tale are in wetlands, such as the swamp and'the forest of rushes where the three
              swans appear floating on the water (known as forested wetlands).  Waterfowl such as the
              ducks and swans, are true inhabitants of wetlands.
 * Available through book shops -

 Code:  E=Easy Reader; F = F5ction; NF=Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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10                     .                                  -
WTLLA IN WETLANDS*. Peyton Lewis and Rory Chalcraft.  National Children's'Theatre for the
Environment; Washington, D.C.; 1991; 28 p.; pre-kindergarten to grade 2 to view play and grades 3 to
5 for viewing and reading; E    •

Summary:     A very creative, funny and engaging play, with catchy, upbeat songs. Includes players
zunmary      w^fa student, Sherman and Shirley  the pink Shrimp, Johnny Rockfish with
              sunglasses Wild Rice, Blue Heron and many other treasures in the wetland. Begins with
              Willa announcing her decision to go to the  wetland because her teacher had mentioned
              to her that day "there was a treasure In the wetland" and she's going to look for it until
              she finds ft, but soon discovers:

                    "looking for -a treasure in a swamp or  a marsh is a hard job.  I .see
                     nothing that looks the least bit priceless."

              Discovering that the treasures she finds were not what she expected, her search leads her
              to a Bald Eagle, the Muskrat lodges, the fiddling Fiddler Crabs and many .more.  Willa
              continues:

                    "I came here looking for gold and silver but I think I've learned what the
                     real treasure is. Everyone I met was  a jewel."

Comment:    As play continues, Willa and the audience become aware of the impending threat of the
              constant "Great Sound" of development in the background to the homes of Willa's new
              friends  in the wetlands.  Willa in  Wetlands does more than  highlight the priceless
              treasures of wetlands as  it presents realistically the real threats  to wetlands and offers.
              practicable ways children might help  in reducing the loss by sharing wetlands and their
              treasures with others.

              Copies of Willa in Wetlands are available at no charge from the Wetlands Protection
              Hotline. Call toll-free 1-800-528-7828.  Accompanying teacher's guide also available.


List of Additional Books for Primary Students
The sections describing these additional books are in parenthesis:

Animals of the Ponds and Streams, Julie Becker (elementary)
Explore a Spooky Swamp, Wendy W. Cortesi (elementary)                     „,.,_,,         ^
Frogs. Toads. Lizards and Salamanders. Nancy Winslow Parker and Joan Richards Wright (elementary)
 Green Darner. Robert M. McClung (elementary)
 In the Middle of the Puddle. Mike Thaler (elementary)
 Marshes and Swamps, Linda M.  Stone (elementary)
 Wetlands: Bogs, Marshes and Swamps, Lewis Buck (elementary)
 * Available through book shops -

 Code: E=Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                                                                                           11
                               ELEMENTARY LEVEL
                                      (Grades 3 through 5)
  ANIMALS AND PLANT? THAT TRAP, PhHip Goldstein. Holiday House, New York- 1974- 128 D •
  grades 4 to 6; NF                                                              •     »    F->

  Summary:     WeH-written with clear explanations.  Devotes entire chapters to the carnivorous Venus
                fly trap, sundew and pitcher plant. Explains how bladderworts living in quiet ponds and
                bogs capture small creatures with underwater leaves covered with miniature trans that
                function automatically.                                                  ^
               function automatically.

 Comment:     Animals and Plants That Trap is comprehensive in covering plants that trap insects many
               of which occur in wetlands.  Wetlands soils are often poor in nutrients.  Carnivorous
               (insect-eating) plants thrive in these conditions with special adaptations that trap insects
               to obtain the nutrients that are unavailable in the soil.


 AMMAI^ QF THE PQND Walter D* E*0100^ Little, Brown and Company, Boston; 49J71; 70 p.; grades
Summary:     Easy to read. Narrates a tale of a quiet, peaceful valley containing streams and wetlands,
              of a beaver colony constructing a dam and impacting lives of deer, mouse and others in
              valley. Contains vegetation and wildlife associated with wetlands.

Comment:     One valuable function of wetlands is they provide homes for many wildlife species. The
              author of Beaver Valley presents a story in which the wetland is changed by beaver
              activity. The author alludes to the similarity between the beaver and humans who both
              have the ability to impact wetland environments.
* Available through book shops-

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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Comment:
i. Hilda Simon. The Viking Press, New York; 1972; 95 p.; index; grades 4 to 6; NF


                               group of insects commonly found in wetlands.

         W specie, ~	, a10*1' ««"» °f in?eCtS: ** °riginS' ^^
         life 'cycle, including the underwater nymphal stage.


       drawings  illustrate dragonflies in many wedand habitats. Hilda Simon has

       a guideto dragonflies of North America in Dragonflies.



                                                              Books for
        ~ . cor^irv 
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                                                                                           13

                Describes successive changes of ponds as they evolve into marshes and prairies over
                hundreds or thousands of years. Explains the loss of wetlands to farmlands through
                human disturbance.

 Comment:      Just like everything else in nature, wetlands are changing. A pond may be evolving into
                a marsh. However, contrary to From Pond To Prairie, it is now known that bodies of
                water such as wetlands do not naturally become dry upland prairies.  A low-lying
                depression that creates a wetland will generally remain, although the type of wetland may
                change. Only outside disturbances such as draining or filling, may cause a wetland to
                disappear.               •                           .     .


 GREEN DARNER. Robert M. McClung.  William Morrow and Company, New York;  1980- grades
 2 to 4; 34 p.; NF

 Summary:      Newly illustrated edition  of this accurate, popular  nature book.  Illustrates wetlands
               habitats with accurate drawings of wetlands animals, such as salamanders and water bugs,
               and wetland vegetation, such  as arrowhead.   Introduces reader to Green Darner, a
               dragonfly, following the story of a dragonfly's life as  it grows from a tiny nymph
               through molting periods to adulthood at a meadow pond.

 Comment:     Green  Darner   is  highly recommended.    Its drawings  are  excellent,  realistic
               representations of wetlands.  It covers the life cycle of a  dragonfly from nymph to
               adulthood, including the many threats encountered while maturing to an adult. Following
               is an excerpt on the food chain at the meadow pond:

                     "The Green Darner nymphs ... ate little one-celled creatures called
                      "protozoans," and tiny water fleas .:. Other animals ate some of the
                      Green Darner nymphs too.  A baby salamander ate the water bug, and
                      a little pickerel ate the salamander.  A bullfrog ate the pickerel, and a
                      big snapping turtle ate the bullfrog! In the pond, many animals get eaten
                      by animals bigger than they are."


IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PUDDLE*. Mike Thaler.  Harper and Row, New York; 1988;  32 p.;
grades 2 to 4; NF

Summary:      Good illustrations of different habitats as a puddle changes to a pool, a pond, and larger
               bodies of water  because of rains and floods.  Illustrations depict true vegetative and
               animal characteristics for each stage.  Author relates a fun story about two friends in the
               middle of a puddle, Fred the  Frog  and Ted the Turtle.  Recounts the two friends'
               experiences with rain and flood, the ensuing changes of the puddle into a pond, then a
               lake and finally a sea before the rains stop and the sea recedes to a lake, then a pond and
               finally to a puddle.
* Available through book shops-

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F== Fiction; NF = Nonfiction;SC = Story Collection

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14

o,™«*.
Comment.
/*»»««*.
Comment.
 4;NF
Comment:
Comment.
             Wetlands may or may not be wet all year. Many may even be dry for many months.
             T/ke the flood of In the Middle of the Puddle, animals occurring in wetlands have
             specially adapted to these sometimes extreme fluctuations.


                        , Dayton O. Hyde.  Atheneum, New York; 1984; 155 p.; grades 4 to 7; F
             Caotivating and exciting adventure of orphan Jimmy who is captured by a convict and
             Cwn             f island in Lake Superior where they fend toge&er for several
                                                                       '
                         ^
              months, including  winter,  mere, Jimmy senses the convict 's un^iantjr
              wilderness and  realizes the more useful  be is, the greater his chances of survival.
                         wetland settings include sphagnum plains  and leatherleaf bogs.  Jimmy s
                                                                     :  pitcher plants, cattaus
              and lady slippers.

              Wetlands occur in shallow depressions or alongside rivers and lakes, as on the island in
              J™""", Inland oftheLoons.  Dayton O. Hyde blends together a ole of a man
              who findshimself, a boy who learns life can have unexpected turns, and the breath-taking
              settings of wetlands and the unspoiled wilderness.

              ND SWAMPS*. Unda M. Stone.  Childrens Press, Chicago;. 1983; 48 p.; grades 2 to
               Attractive  accurate, and well-illustrated. Describes three different types of wetlands:
               Ae'                 information on their functions and values.      .
               In Marshes and Swamps, author Stone provides excellent information about wetlands and
               J*£»» ^ ^^   Sfae ^ ^^ several other ^^ on wetianlis, uicluding

               one entitled, Wedands, also contained in this reading list.
 THE MYSTEE v OF THE GREAT SWAMP. Marjorie A. Sapf. Atheneum, New York; 1967; 167 p.;
 grades 4 to 7; F

 Summary:    Captivating tale with colorful descriptions of the swamp.  Presented by the Weekly
 summary.    ^  cSoAnn's Book Club.  Takes place in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia
               Recounts adventures of boy Jeb in swamp, particularly his unexpected encounters wiA
               the Indians that were not all driven from the swamp years ago, as early settlers had
               thought.

  Comment-    In The Mystery of the Great Swamp, the author refers to true, realistic elements of the
  Comment.    *™                    ^.^ ^^ ^^ waying reedSj g^ ^

                              plants,  cypress  trees and  tupelo  trees.   Trees are  important for
                         ing a sWfcn a inn* as nor** are dominated by soft-stemmed (known
               as herbaceous) plants.
  * Available through book shops •
  Code: E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                                                                                         15

 POND AND RFVER*. Steve Parker.  Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York;-1988; 64 p., grades 3 to 5;
 NF           ;                                     •

 Summary:     Very well-illustrated, in color and indexed. Describes the types of plants and animals
              that characterize ponds and rivers, with a special emphasis on these habitats as they
              change during the different seasons of the year.

 Comment:     Pond and River provides good information on poods, rivers and wetlands. A pond may
              be defined as a body of water so shallow that plants may grow completely across it.  As
              such, many ponds are also wetlands.  Also, many wetlands occur along rivers and are
              known as riverine wetlands.
THE POND BOOK. Albro Gaal. Van Rees Press, New York; 1955; 136 p.; grades 3 to 4; NF

Summary:    Easy to read and understand.  Gaal provides interesting and fun activities for children to
              learn about wetlands using an applied, hands-on approach.

Comment:    Ponds are vegetated .shallow bodies of water and may be considered just one of the many
              different types of wetlands.. One chapter in The Pond Book is about setting up a "teacup
              aquarium," which, as the name indicates, can be done in the home.  This would allow
              the student to watch activities of the tiny living things that may be  found hi a nearby
              pond.


SCOOTS THE  BOG TURTLE*. Judy  Cutchins and Ginny  Johnston.   Atheneum  MacMHlan
Publishing Company, New York; 1989; 32 p.; index; grades 3 to 5; NF

Summary:    Excellent! Identifies; and describes bogs as rare, unique and fragile wetlands occurring
              in cooler climates of the north and on mountains. Explains unique adaptations of the bog
              turtle which is specially adapted to bog habitat.

Comment:    Like other plant and animal  inhabitants of bogs, the bog turtle is easily threatened by
              human disturbance.  Scoots the Bog Turtle follows the life of imaginary Scoots, the little
              bog turtle at Duck Potato Bog.  All plants and animals in the story commonly occur in
              bogs in the North Carolina mountains.


THE SEMINOLE*. Martin Lee.  Franklin Watts, New York; 1989; 64 p.; grades 3 to 5; index; NF

Summary:     Historical and modern account of Seminole Indians of the Florida swamps.  Tells the
              background of the Seminole Indians who lived hi Georgia and Alabama but were forced
              into Florida in the  1700's, some norm of Big Cypress Swamp.  Descriptions of the
              Seminole Wars  and of their leader Osceola hiding his people in swamps of southern
              Florida after a fight.  While many Seminoles were killed or moved  to reservations in
              West, a few chose to continue to live hi the southern Florida environment, in traditional
              chickees (huts) in small villages.
* Available through book shops •

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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 16

 Comment:  •   The Seminole and other tides on Seminole Indians (or Indians in general), provides
               information on  bow  native Americans  learned to live  in  unison  with  a wetland
               environment — in this  instance  a swampland — and  their customs  of food  gathering,
               assembling homes, and preparing garments of materials using resources found  in the
             •  wetlands environment.

               (NOTE: This is not the same book as the one listed by same title under Primary Level
               by Emilie U. Leptfaier.)


 SMALL WATER MAMMALS. Maxwell Knight. McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York; 1968; 32 p.;
 grades 3 to 5; NF                                                               .    .

 Summary:     Good background information on water mammals. Identifies and describes specific water
                      s, including the water shrew, muskrat and beaver— mammals often found  in
               wetlands. Describes each animal's requirements in terms of food, home and breeding.

 Comment:     Mammals (wildlife) represent one of the many values wetlands provide. They are pan
               of the food chain.  Students may observe mammals such as a muskrat or beaver by sitting
               patiently and quietly alongside a marsh which shows sign of muskrat or beaver activity
               (stumps along the edge of or a lodge in the marsh) at dusk.


 SNAILS OF LAND AND SEA. Hilda Smith. The Vanguard Press, New York;  1976; 143 p.; grades
 4 to 7; index; NF     •                               •                             .

 Summary:     Attractive, color illustrations.  Discusses the evolution, anatomy, structure of the shell,
               and growth of the entire class of snails, including freshwater snails.  Describes the
               characteristics of major groups of snails, such as swamp snails which may live in ponds,
               pools and other shallow waters.

 Comment:     Students are urged to seek out Snails of Land and Sea and  other titles on snails to learn
               about these highly successful animals that are common in wetlands.  Snails are important
               food in some countries and have been economically useful as currency and in creating
               dyes and culturally important  in jewelry and  artifacts.


SWAN LAKE*. Mark Helprin.  Briel Books, Houghton-MifSin Co., Boston; 1989; 84 p.; grades 2 to
5;F

Summary:    Beautifully illustrated classic,  an original fable with insightful text that reveals the story
              behind the Tchaikovsky ballet. Tale is of an orphaned princess and  a young prince.  The
              prince  is posed with a choice of the world of the court or the peaceful world of nature..
               Critical scenes occur along a lake and other bodies of water, centering around swans.
* Available through book shops •

Code:  E=Easy Reader; F = Rctibn; NF=Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                                                                                          17

Comment:     Swan Lake flows with the grace of Tchaikovsky's music.  Wetlands, such as those found
               in the tundra and prairie potholes of the midwest, are the nurseries for a high percentage
               of ducks, geese and swans.


WATER INSECTS. Sylvia A. Johnson. Lerner Publications, Minneapolis;  1990; 48 p.; grades 3 to
7; glossary; NF

Summary:     Well-designed and illustrated in a style that appeals to children without oversimplifying
               or sacrificing accuracy.  Water Insects focuses predominantly on insects occurring in
               ponds or wetlands, with photographs highlighting every aspect of insect life.

Comment:     As with other volumes from the Lerner Natural Science Series, Water Insects is easy to
               understand and thorough.  Many children are fascinated by insects.  Water Insects draws.
               on their natural  curiosity and will invite mem to visit  ponds and other  wetlands to
               observe water insects.
WETLANDS*. Linda M. Stone. Rourke Enterprises, Inc., Vero Beach;  1989; 48 p.; grades 3 to 5;
glossary, maps and index; NF

Summary:    Attractive and well-illustrated with excellent information on wetlands!  Part of Ecozones
              Series.   Wetlands information addresses their curious appeal, the different types of
              wetlands that occur, formation of wetlands, and the plants and animals wetlands support.

Content:      As with Marshes and Swamps listed earlier. Wetlands is another wonderfully written
              book on ecosystems by distinguished  childrens  author,  Linda M. Stone.   Wetlands
              contains several hands-on activities, such as creating a collage of wetlands plants and
              animals. The author includes a list of outstanding wetlands to visit.
WETLANDS; BOGST MA.R$tfE$ AMP gWAMPS. Lewis Buck. Parents Magazine Press, New York;
1974; 64 p.; grades 2 to 4; index; NF

Summary:     Attractive, light and well-written for young children. Identifies and describes three of
              the more familiar types of wetlands: bogs, marshes, and swamps.  Examines the Prairie
              Pothole region in the Midwest and central Canada, the breeding grounds for one-third
              of the North American waterfowl population in the chapter, "Life in a Duck Factory."

Comment:     Wetlands: Bogs, Marshes and Swamps mentions all wetlands are changing from water
              to dry land, a belief once commonly accepted that we now know does not always occur.
              Wetlands are created by hydrology and many wetlands do not develop into uplands with
              the passage  of time as once was thought but remain wetlands as long as hydrology.
              remains.
* Available through book shops •

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F= Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                18
               WOrfDERff QFTHE FIELDS_AND PONDg AT NIGHT. Jacqueltyn BerriU. Dodd, Mead and Co.,
               New York; 1962; 80 p.; grades 3 to 5; index; NF       .

               Summary:     Easy to read and informative. The chapter devoted to ponds, "Night at the Pond," has
|                             sections on  some of the animals inhabiting ponds, many  of which art. wetlands.
j                             Information  included on frogs, water shrews and muskrats, all of which  occur in
!                             wedands.
!               Comment:'    Most «.«mfMi« are nocturnal and those inhabiting shallow ponds and wetlands are no
!                             exception.  In Wonders of the Fields and Ponds at Night, author Berrill presents mis
                             other less understood period of me living world, nighttime, when mammals are most
                             active in and around wetlands.

                             OF FISHES*. Thomas D. Fagely. Dodd, Mead and Co., New York; 1978; grades 3
               'to 5; index and bibliography; NF

               Summary:    Informative, easy so understand.  Presents overview on fishes and  .eir importance as
                           •  food and as a source of recreation. Provides general facts on fishes  including:  senses,
                             mating and habitat; individual chapters on different kinds of fish— gamefish, panfish, salt
                             and freshwater fish; information on endangered fish; and information on me effects of
                             pollution.

               Comment:    The World of Fishes and books on brackish or saltwater as well as freshwater fish contain
                             information on animals mat may breed, batch, feed and live their, whole life in wedands. -
                             Wetlands are necessary to many fishes during some or all of their life. One final chapter
                             has information on creating one's own "pond" or aquarium.  _<
               List of Additional Books for Elementary Students
               The sections describing the following books are in parenthesis:
               Common Frog, Oxford Scientific Films (primary)
               Dragonflies, Cynthia Overbeck (primary)
               Estuaries, Where Rivers Meet the Sea, Laurence Pringle (intermediate)
               Everglades Country, Patricia Lauber (intermediate)
               Exploring the Great Swamp, George Laycock (intermediate)
               Let's Find Out about Frogs, Corrine J. Naden (primary)
               The Lorax, Dr. Seuss (primary)
               Misty of Chincoteague,  Marguerite Henry (intermediate)
               Pitcher Plants:  The Elegant Insect Traps, Carol Lerner (intermediate)
               Puddles and Ponds, Rose Wyler (primary)
               A River Dream, Allen Say (primary)
               The Snow Goose, Paul Gallico (intermediate)
               The Ugly Duckling, Hans Christian Anderson (primary)
               Willa in Wetlands,  Peyton Lewis and Rory Chalcraft (primary)
                * Available through book shops'                   -

                Code:  E^Easy Reader; F=Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                                                                                       19
                           INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
                                    (Grades 6 through 8)
             WHERE RIVERS MEET THE SEA. Laurence Pringle. The MacMillan.Co., New
York; 1973; 56 p.; glossary; grades 5 to 7; NF

Summary:     Superb photographs and simple, concise text.  Explores bays and salt marshes, with
              descriptions of plant and  animal life above and below water, including the complex,
              interrelationships between tides, grasses, crabs, fish and birds.

Comment:     Estuaries are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, some producing twenty
              tunes as much food as an equal area of open sea. Salt marshes may produce ten tons of
              plants a year  compared to the best wheat fields which yield only seven tons.  The
              following passage from Estuaries, 'Where Rivers Meet the Sea  indicates how valuable
              estuaries are to all of us:

                   "Whether you live close to an estuary or far away, your life is tied to salt
                    marshes and eelgrass meadows.  Whenever you eat  scallops, oysters,
                    clams, sole or many other kinds of seafood, your body receives energy
                    from estuaries."


EVERGLADES COUNTRY. Patricia Lauber. The Viking Press, New York; 1973; 125 p.; grades
5to8;NF

Summary:     Very informative and accurate. Provides an account of the Florida Everglades, with its
              unique plant and animal life. Author refers to Everglades National Park as a "huge reach
              of grassy water."  Describes this internationally unique and  valuable wetlands system
              known as the  Everglades as well as the constant, heavy pressure to develop this area.
              It includes discussions of the defeat of proposed construction for an expansive airport,
              and ongoing irrigation for agricultural practices that have changed the "grassy water" to
              barren land.

Comment:     Everglades Country provides the student with a respect, understanding and appreciation
              for  this special environment, its inhabitants and the threats to its existence. Perhaps it
              will encourage students to identify ways to actively conserve  wetlands.


EXPLORING THE GREAT SWAiVfPs-George Laycock. David McKay Company, Inc.; 1978; 58 p.;
grades 5 to 8; NF   "'

Summary:     Very informative and well illustrated.  Author Laycock conveys sense of intrigue and
              adventure as  the author  defines  wetlands and some  of their values and functions.
              Describes swamps, including the history and vegetative communities that comprise some
              swamps of North America. In Exploring the Great Swamp, George Laycock investigates
 * Available through book shops

 Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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 20
                   "*                            .                    '
               scientifically accurate  facts,  eye-witness  accounts, history and legends of the great
               swamps such as the Great Dismal Swamp located on the border between Virginia and
               Norm Carolina, the Okefenokee Swamp .in Georgia and the Alakai  on a Hawaiian
               mountaintop.                                                                 .

 Comment:     Exploring the Great Swamp presents good information about swamps in different areas
            .   of the country.  The reader will learn that while these places are all swamps, each swamp
               is unique and differs widely from other swamps.


 LOOK WHAT T FOUND*. Marshal T. Case. The  Chatham Press, Inc.,  Riverside;  1971; 95 p.;
 grades 5 to 7; NF   .

 Summary:     Contains useful information  on setting up an aquarium either at home  or in the
               classroom, for studying plant and animal life, including those  found along the edge of
               wetlands.  Discourages disturbing wetlands, and encourages students to release living
               things they capture to their native habitats once finished with them.

 Comment:     In Look What I -Found, author Marshal T. Case provides information for students to learn
               first band what constitutes a wetland through building .a model of a wetland either at
               home or in the classroom.


 MISTY OF CHINCOTEAGUE*. Marguerite Henry. Rand McNally and Co., Chicago; 1946; 176 p.;
 grades 5 to 8;  F                                      •                              -

 Summary:     Fiction  based on fact; occurs along the  barrier  islands of Maryland and Virginia:
               Assateague Island* where according to legend shipwrecks in colonial times occurred and
               stranded fifteen ponies in wild, grassy marshlands; and neighboring Chincoteague Island,
               home of children Maureen and Paul. Classic narrative of Paul and Maureen's adventures
               acquiring three ponies:  a wild mare, stallion and colt during annual round-up and lessons
               learned  in the process. *

 Comment:     Many students love horse stories.  Assateague Island is a National Wildlife Refuge where
               ponies still roam free and every year there  is a round-up like the one described in Misty
               of Chincoteague.  All the incidents in the story are real and happened at one time or
               another along the barrier islands and grassland marshes.  Accurate descriptions of the
               marshes and barrier islands are incorporated.


THE MYSTERY OF THE BOG FOREST. Lorus J. Milne and Margery Milne. Dodd,  Mead and
 Company, New York; 1984; 128 p.; grades 5 to 7; index; NF

Summary:     Attractive, well-done and accurate, with index.  Explains the origins  of bogs, their
               special attractions and  their unique plant  and animal life.  Lists plants and animals
               occurring in wetlands, providing scientific name and range.  Describes the formation of
               bogs from peat  moss as it spreads out from shore, and the unusually harsh, physical
* Available through book shops-

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                                                                                          21

              characteristics that limit the plant community to life forms specially adapted to wetlands,
              emphasizing the adaptations of carnivorous plants.

Comment:     The Mystery of the Bog Forest provides helpful background information on bogs and their
              unique and unusual types of vegetation. A student may want to visit a bog after reading
              this book.  Bogs are great to investigate in groups.  Authors Margery and Lerus Milne
              also describe the very old artifacts found deep in bogs.


A NATURALIST'S SKETCHBOOK. Clare Walker Leslie.  Dodd, Mead and Company, New York;
1987; 121 p.; grades 7 to 12; NF

Summary:     Creative, new method for studying wetlands.  Leslie presents a calendar year of pages
              taken from ten  naturalist journals daily covering the period 1977 to 1987.   Provides
              helpful notes on drawing, demonstrating -a new way of seeing nature.  Drawings of
              waterfowl, paddling painted turtle and hooded mergansers in a pond with notes describe
              author's experiences during day in margins.

Comment:     A Naturalist's Sketchbook, like Leslie's earlier, Nature Drawing:  A  Tool for Learning
              is simply about developing a new  tool for learning and is highly  recommended for
              learning to see and study nature in a new way.  It is an excellent  tool for experiencing
              and learning about marshes and other wetlands through "seeing."


OF MEN AND MARSHES. Paul L. Errington.  The Iowa State University Press, Ames;  1957; 150
p.; grades 7 to 10; NF

Summary:     Accurate but not too technical description  as dedicated naturalist unveils little known
              world of wetlands life; encompasses prairie marshes and marsh-dwelling animal societies
              such as the muskrat  (Errington is "The muskrat expert") and water birds in glaciated
              regions of Midwest  and far West,  and  Southeast.  Portrays ducks filling skies arid
              covering waters, shorebirds running on mudflats,  fishes in shallows;  describes  living
              things adjusting to changes, such as muskrats during flood and drought, waterfowl in
              migration during a snow storm.

Comment:    Of Men  and Marshes takes a humanistic and historic perspective to  describe human
              impacts on marsh communities.  By paralleling human to marsh societies, Errington
              expresses the need for reverence toward the ancient interrelationships of native plants,
              animals, soils and climates. He suggests man demonstrates he is civilized by preventing
              unnecessary destruction of the remaining marshlands and other existing wild places.

                     "Greater familiarity with marshes on the part of more people could give
                      man a truer and more wholesome view of himself in relation to Nature.
                      In marshes, Life's undercurrents and unknowns and evolutionary changes
                      are  exemplified  with a high degree of independence  from human
                      dominance as long as the marshes remain hi marshy condition.  Marshes
                      comprise their own form of wilderness. Thejr have their own life-rich
 * Available through book shops -

 Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                      genuineness and  reflect forces  that  are  much  older,  much  more
                      permanent, and much mightier than man."

                      Note:  Since this book is out of print, it may be hard to find.
 PITCHER PLANTS;  THE ELEGANT INSECT TRAPS. Carol Lerner.  Waiiam Morrow and
 Company, New York; 1983; 63 p.; grades 5 to 8; NF

 Summary:     Excellent drawings, paintings and text. Contains a glossary, an index and a list of places
               with collections of pitcher plants and other carnivorous (insect-eating) plants.  Portrays
               a group of plants known as pitcher plants which are unique to bogs along the East coast.
               'These unusual plants are unable to obtain nutrients from acidic soil conditions and have
               adapted by consuming bisects to survive.

 Comment:     Pitcher Plants:   The Elegant. Insect Traps and similar books on  insectivorous or
               carnivorous plants are highly recommended for learning about these unusual and rare
               plants, and will enable students to gain an understanding of the unique adaptations plants
               and animals make 'in response to the special ecological conditions found in wetlands
               systems.


 PQNPPFE*, George K. Reid, Ph.D. Western  Publishing Company, Inc., New York; 1967; 160 p.;
 grades 6 to 10; index; NF

 Summary:     Popular, accurate  and informative book in  the Golden Guide Series.  Describes and
               illustrates in color some of the most common of the thousands of animals and plants that
               inhabit ponds and  other wetlands, lakes and streams.  Fust section includes valuable
               information on the characteristics of ponds, examining several of the many different types
               of ponds and wetlands (cypress swamps, bogs  and mountain bogs).  Discusses water
               characteristics and the different habitats found in freshwater systems, including the littoral
               or wetland habitat extending from the water's edge outward as far as rooted plants grow.
               Suggestions for when to visit, where to look, how to make exciting discoveries, and how
               to observe, collect and release live specimens.


 Comment:     Pond Life defines ponds as quiet bodies of water so shallow mat rooted plants may grow
               completely across them.  By definition, ponds are one type of wetland.  Although there
               are many different kinds of wetlands and each is unique, Pond Life explains well  the
               physical and biological factors common to  most wetlands, as well as how plants and
               animals live in community together.
* Available through book shops •

Code:  E=f-asy Reader; F=Fiction; NF=Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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THE SNOW GOOSE*. Paul Galiico. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York; 1940; 56 p.; grades 5 to 12;
NF

Summary:     Haunting, moving and tender account during World War II.  Setting is an abandoned
              lighthouse on a low, far-reaching desolate expanse of grass, reeds and half-submerged
              meadowlands on the Essex coast of England.  Snow Goose wanders from-home in
              Canada to England and is wounded by hunters in nearby marsh. Twelve year old girl,
              Fritha, daringly brings wounded Snow Goose to lonely, deformed man, Rhayader, who
              cares for wild, wounded animals. Once healed, "Great White Bird" returns annually.
              When war breaks out, Rhayader sets out across the sea to rescue marooned men hi bad
              weather, unknowing of Snow Goose overhead.  Remainder of story is a  mystery but
              fragmentary and is based on words from pub and local residents: Rhayader is successful,
              however, what became of him is unknown and of the Snow Goose it is written:

                    "The Great White Bird with the black-tipped pinions that saw h all from
                     the beginning has returned to the dark, frozen silences of the notthlands
                     from whence it came." (p. 56)

Comment:     The Snow Goose is a true story that occurs along the coastal wetlands of Great Britain
              and is garnered from many sources and many people. Apparently, the hero was last seen
              rowing  soldiers across the  sea to safety tune and again, with the Snow  Goose
              accompanying him. Following is a passage from The Snow Goose:

                    "The Great Marsh lies on the coast between the village of Chelmbury and
                     the ancient Saxon oyster-fishing hamlet of Wickaeidroth.  It is one of the
                     last wild places of England, a low, far-reaching expanse of grass  and
                     reeds  and half-submerged meadowlands ending in the great saltings and
                     mud fiats and tidal pools near the restless sea." (pages 3-4)


WILD AND  SCENIC  RIVERS. National Geographic Society.   Washington, D.C.; 1983; 200 p.;
grades 6 to 9, NF

Summary:     Stunning photographs and  informative text on America's rivers, including many riverine
              wetlands such as those along the Little Pee Dee River in .South Carolina, the floodpiain
              wetlands of Minnesota's Big Fork River, and the Bayou Penchant, a 30-mile  marsh
              environment hi Louisiana.

Comment:     Many wetlands occur along rivers.   Wetlands also often occur at  the headwaters of
              rivers.   For  example, 'Wild  and Scenic  Rivers cites the source  or headwaters  of
              Wisconsin's Riviere Noire or Black River as bogs and swamps.  The book describes state
              and national efforts to preserve these and other riverine systems, as well as people who
              work to protect them.
* Available through book shops

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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 THE WTNT> TN THE WILLOWS*. Kenneth Grahame.  Charles Scribner's Sons, New York; 1908;
 259 p.; grades 6 to 10; F   '

 Summary:     Classic, delightful story featuring adventures of animals along a riverbank,  wetlands
               habitats and other low-lying areas.. Star characters include Mole, Rat, Toad and Badger.
               Whether it is the adventures boating with Rat or Toad in his motor car, wetlands are
               never far off:  along the river, beside the meadows, on the bank where Rat's house is
               found or beside the pools where Otter hides. Below is an excerpt from a conversation
               between Mole and Rat, as Mole speaks about enjoying boating and water:

                    "What?" Cried the Rat, open-mouthed; "Never been in a—you never-
                      well, I—what have you been doing then?"
                    "Is it so nice as all mat?" asked the Mole shyly.
                    "Nice?  It's the only thing," said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leaned
                      forward for his  stroke.  "Believe  me,  my  young  friend, there is
                      nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as messing about
                      in boats."  (pages 6-7).

. Comment:     The Wind In The Willows is for those who are or remain young at heart.  Wetlands occur
               often along rivers, and many of us enjoy activities in riverine wetlands, much like the
               characters in this book.  The Wind In The Willows portrays the interconnectedness of
               wetlands, rivers, meadows, woods, and the lives of animals and humans.


THE YEARLING*. Marjorie Rinnan Rawlings.  Charles Scribner's Sons, New York;  1938; 428 p.;
grades 7 to 10; F      .

Summary:     This cherished classic that takes place in the shallow springs and pools, sawgrass rivers
               and adjacent meadows and wooded swamps in and around the Florida Everglades. Story
               is about a boy growing up in a poor family, his attachment to adopted, semi-tame fawn,
               the fawn's repeated invasion of his father's corn field,  the tragedy that follows, and the
               painful  maturing these experiences bring. Excellent characters, realistic experiences and
               accurate descriptions of landscapes.

 Comment:     The Yearling mirrors author M.K. Rawling's own,  real  life  experiences when  she
               emigrated from the bustling life of the city, to write  in a country surrounded  by the
               Florida Everglades.  It is based on her personal relationship with a neighboring  family
               and a youth who faced the very real trials of growing up in a poor, rural family with a
               father attached to the bottle. Her writings also describe the surrounding wetlands,  typical
               of the Florida Everglades, as indicated in the quote below:

                    "There was suddenly a strip of hammock land, and a place of live oaks
                      and scrub palmettos. The undergrowth was thick, laced with cat-briers..
                      Then hammock, too, ended,  and TO the south and west lay a broad open
                      expanse that looked at first to be a meadow.   This  was the saw-grass.
                      It grew knee-deep in water, its harsh saw-edged blades rising so thickly
                      it seemed a compact vegetation." (pages 32-33)
 * Available through book shops •

 Code: E=Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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               Students are encouraged to read M.K. Rawling's autobiography, Cross Creek, which also
               has much on wetlands. Both The Yearling and Cross Creek have been made into movies.
 List of Additional Books for Intermediate Students
 The sections describing the following books are in parenthesis:
 Amazon:  The Flooded Forest, Michael Goulding (secondary)
 Animals and Plants That Trap, Philip Goldstein (elementary)
 The Birder's Handbook: A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds, Paul R. Erlich,
  David S. Dobkin, and Darryl Wheye (secondary)
 Dragon/lies, Hilda Smith (elementary)
 Frogs, Toads, Lizards and Salamanders, Nancy Winslow (elementary)
 Island of the Loons, Dayton O. Hyde (elementary)
 Life and Death of the Salt Marsh, John and Mildred Teal (secondary)
 The Pond, Robert Murphy (secondary)
 A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold (secondary) .
 Snails of Land and Sea, Hilda Smith (elementary)
 Through the Eyes of a Young Naturalist,  Bill Sipple (intermediate)
 Walking the Wetlands, Janet Lyons and Sandra Jordan (secondary)
 Wandering Through Winter, Edwin Way  Teale (secondary)
 Water Insects, Sylvia A. Johnston (elementary)
* Available through book shops -

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F= Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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26
                              SECONDARY LEVEL
                                   (Grades 9 through 12)
                                                                 - UnivershyofWasfaington
Press, Seattle; 1989; 144 p.; grades 10 to 12; NF

Summary     Primarily a  handbook for the older student and adults.  Author provides helpful
              information for teachers and older students interested in working with a group of high
              school  students  to adopt and improve a stream and adjacent or isolated  wetlands.
              Contains information about streams but is applicable to wetlands, too.

Comment:     Although primarily about streams, Adopting A Stream: A Northwest Handbook is an
              excellent reference for anyone interested in initiating a stream or wetlands clean-up and
              monitoring project  Adopting a wetland could be a challenging but rewarding class
              endeavor.


THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN*. Mark Twain.  Ainnont Publishing Co., Inc.,
New York; 1962; 318 p.; grades 10 to 12; F                             ..

Summary:     Humorous yet complex classic often cited as Mark Twain's best. Begins with rigid aunt
              and abusive, drunk father from whom Huck Finn soon escapes. Aunt accuses slave Jim
              who had disappeared of murdering Huck.  .Story unfolds  as Huck and Jim soon meet,
              build a raft and  flee together down the Mississippi River. Novel depicts their journey
              of adventure and humor, cruelty and injustice, and preserves the essence and spirit of an
              important era in American history.

Comment:     The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn contains more of one of America's favorite writers,
              Mark Twain, than any of his other novels. It is also important river/wetlands literature
              because the setting is the Mississippi River, a watershed which drains waters from about
              a third of the United States.  Experiences highlight the interconnectedness between man
              and the environment. Twain brings to the novel his own personal experiences with the
              river and once extensive adjacent wetlands  as  riverboat pilot along the great river.
              Another book by Mark Twain that contains  information on the Mississippi and  her
              wetlands is life on the Mississippi.


AMAZON; THE FLOODED FOREST. Michael Gouiding. Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., New York.
1990; 208 p.; grades '8 to 12; NF

Summary:    Spectacular photographs, many of wetlands. Complements television series by Partridge
              Films, Ltd., for the British Broadcasting Company (BBC).  Provides natural history of
              Amazonian rivers and rainforests.  Three main features of Amazonian floodplains are
              described:   flooded  forests, open water bodies and floating  meadows of herbaceous
 * Available through book shops •

 Code:  I= = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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              plants.  Information is included on species of trees specially adapted to survive long
              periods of flooding.

Comment:     The Amazon is a very special place and-much of this large area is a wetland.  It floods
              to a depth of 30 feet then drains to a shallow marsh annually.  The variety of plant and
              animal life that has adapted to the extreme conditions of the Amazon is extraordinary,
              as is evident in Amazon:  The Flooded Forest.               -


BEAUTIFUL  SWIMMERS*.  William W. Warner.   Little, Brown and Company, Boston; 1976;
304 p.; grades 9 to 12; NF

Summary:     Well written and interesting. Contains information on  the Atlantic blue crab and is a
              study of the Chesapeake Bay, the continent's largest estuary, including its history, winds
              and tides, gradations of depths, temperature and salinity with an interesting account  on
              those who earn their Hiving by chasing the blue crab. It follows the seasons of crabbers'
              year from autumn one year to Labor Day Crab Derby the next.

Comment:     Warner writes in the manner of the great naturalists Rachel Carson and Annie Dillard,
              and is a  must for learning about the Chesapeake, crabbing and estuaries.  Beautiful
              Swimmers identifies  additional reading sources and  suggests sites to  visit  in  the
              Chesapeake Bay in the "Afterword."


THE BIRDER'S HANDBOOK; A FIELD GUIDE TO THE  NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH
AMERICAN BIRDS*. Paul R. Erlich, David S. Dobkin, and  Darryl Wheye. Simon and Schuster,
Inc., New York;  1988; 785 p.; grades 8 to 12; NF

Summary:     Excellent guide and reference to  all birds known to nest regularly on the continent,
              including all those that nest or inhabit wetlands. A significant portion is devoted to birds
              often found in wetlands.  These include, but are not limited to ducks, geese, egrets,
              herons, loons, plovers, ospreys, and rails.

Comment:     The Birder's Handbook is an identification guide with specific treatments of 650 species
              of birds, with fascinating and  informative essays on each species.   Type of nest, nest
              location, and  major types of food eaten during the breeding season are included in  the
              information provided.


CAESARS OF THE WILDERNESS. Peter C. Newman.  Viking-Penguin, Inc.; 1987; 452 p.; grades
9 to  12; NF.

Summary:     Historical description of the Hudson Bay Company (fur trading) empire established in
              Canada and the United States to harvest beaver and other fur animals in the vast wetlands
              of the two countries during the 1700 and 1800's.
 * Available through book shops-

 Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF=Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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Comment:
The presence of water (hydrology) determines whether or not an area is a wetland.  It
influences the type of vegetation and type of soil that occurs. Collectively these three
criteria—hydrology, soils and vegetation—are used to identify a wetland. In Caesars of
the Wilderness, author Newman emphasizes Canada's historical dependence on water.
Wetlands are habitat (home) to many furbearers, and are particularly important to beaver,
muskrat and mink.
CHESAPEAKE*. James A. Michener. Random House, New York; 1978; 865 p.; grades 9 to 12; F

Summon-     Excellent descriptions of life surrounding the magnificent estuary habitat of Chesapeake
              Bay in mis historical novel by acclaimed author. Contents are arranged chronologically.
              The section tided "Voyages" contains an abundance of material devoted to wetlands.
              Voyage One:   1583, "THe River," focuses  on Chesapeake Indian tribes including
          '    fictitious Petaquod  observing a marshland bird, "Fishing-long-legs"  (an egret?).  In
              Voyage:  1636, "The Marsh," pirate Turioch learns to view the marsh not only as a
              hiding place but as:

                    "an empire, a reservoir of considerable richness populated fay larger arid
                     tastier fish. He did not bother to differentiate the rushes and the various
                     kinds of minute inedible crabs,  nor  did  he have the knowledge to
                     comprehend how the contrasting elements of life fitted together, each
                     supporting the other; that complicated awareness would not come in his
                     century. But  what he could understand was the marsh constituted a kind
                     of outlaw state from which he could thumb his nose at the Steeds and
                     any  others who  sought to enslave him hi their  ordered ways."
                     (pp. 147-148)

 Comment:    In preparing Chesapeake, James Michener did a lot of field research into the Chesapeake
              Bay estuary, including its marshlands and tributaries, herons and ospreys., Indians,
              oysters and more.   Although  it is a novel  with  imaginary  characters and locales,
              Chesapeake documents the unique character and flavor of the Chesapeake Bay.


 COMPANY OF ADVENTURES - THE STORY OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. Peter C.
 Newman.  Viking-Penguin, Inc., New York; 1985; 448 p.; grades 10 to 12; NF

 Summary:    Provides historical background of the giant Hudson's Bay Company that played a central
              role in settling the North American comment.

 Comment:     Company of Adventures is recommended reading for gaining a knowledge of the early
              pioneers and the undeveloped land, much of which included wetlands.  Furs and the
               wealth they brought to the Hudson's Bay Company is a story that covers one-twelfth of
              the earth's surface—much of it wetlands.
 * Available through book shops •

 Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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TTfE EVER^I, AnES: RrvER OF GRASS*. Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Mockingbird Books, Inc.,
St. Simons Island; 1947; 308 p.; grades 9 to 12; NF
Summary:
Comment:
First comprehensive study of Florida's Everglades.  Commences with a description of
the natural setting followed by the coming  of the  Indian and later the Europeans.
Includes descriptions of the natural history of the Everglades including its waters which
form a seventy mile wide, shallow river, and grasses, particularly the saw grass.
Accounts of the discoverers, conquerors and peoples  that have affected the Everglades
and present threats to their existence.       .

The Everglades:  River of Crass portrays human history spanning the time from ancient
Indian cultures to modem times, investigates the natural phenomenon of the seventy-mile
wide river flowing through the saw grass  to the sea and comments on the present and
future threats to the Everglades.
                                       NATURALISTS'. Paul Russell Cartright.  University of
Illinois Press, Chicago; 1969; 506 p.;.grades 10 to 12; appendices and index; NF

Summary:     Natural history account of the famous expedition of  Merriwether Lewis and William
               Clark. Expedition originates on the Potomac River, traverses the Missouri and Columbia
               River watersheds to reach the Pacific coast and concludes with their return to St. Louis.
               The expedition occurred between 1802 and 1806, under the direction of then president,
               Thomas Jefferson.  Includes appendices of plants and animals discovered by Lewis and
               Clark along rivers and riverine wetlands, and lists of Lewis and Clark journals, maps and
               other reference material.

Comment:     The mission of Lewis and Clark as explained in Lewis and dark: Pioneering Naturalists
               was to explore the Missouri River and its principle streams and the waters of the Pacific
               for the purpose of commerce, to record the diverse vegetation and animal life, and to
               identify the aboriginal (Indian) nations. Their remarkable journey took place along major
               watersheds, including the Columbia Estuary and riverine wetlands.  Descriptions of
               vegetation occurring in wetlands habitats include the broad-leaved arrowhead (Sagittaria
               latifolia)  in the Northwest with  its nutritious, white starchy tubers  that contributed
               significantly to the welfare of coastal Indians.

               Regarding the tremendous numbers of ducks, geese, brant, cranes, swans  and  other-
               aquatic birds, Clark comments: -I could not sleep for the noise kept [up] by the Swans,
               White and black brants ..." (ffl 199) on page 239. This and other accounts of Lewis and
               Clark are excellent references revealing the rich, pristine landscape and abundance of life
               along our rivers and wetlands prior to European settlement.
 * Available through book shops •

 Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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30
      AND
                    QF 'Tffv- SATjT MARSH*« John and Mildred T^1-  Ballantine Books, New
 .
York; 274 p.; 1969; grades 8 to 12; index; NF
Summary:
Comment:
Well written and illustrated, accurate and easy to understand.  Documents the birth and
death of marshes,  ecology of salt marshes, and their conservation needs.v_ Author
describes salt marshes along the East Coast from Newfoundland to Florida, including:
me development of these marshes, the plants and animals inhabiting them and their
interrelationships, their contributions to human welfare and the often negative impact of
human civilization on salt marshes.

Written long before many ever heard of the term "wetlands," Ufe and Death of a Salt
Marsh is recommended reading for any student desiring to learn about wetlands in coastal
areas  The environment of the salt marsh is unique in that plants and animals inhabiting
mem have had to adapt to fluctuating tides, to being covered with water one moment and
exposed the next At low tide the salt marsh is a vast flat meadow of grasses. High tide
is similar but with water showing between the spears of grass where land was earlier.
The authors discuss the negative impact of civilization on salt marshes and present
solutions and suggestions emphasizing it is important for  people to decide together to
reduce the continuing losses and actively work toward the  preservation of salt marshes.
 TOE NEW BOOK OF QXFOPjp CANADIAN VERSE. Compiled by Margaret Atwood.  Oxford
 University Press, New York; 477 p.; grades 9 to 12; SC

 Summary:     Nice selections on wetlands. "The Blue Heron" by Theodore Goodridge Roberts, 1926
               refers to a species of bird common in wetlands and has a very nice poetic description or
               a wetland, perhaps a fresh or salt water marsh. Following is a sample from his poem:

                     "In~a green place lanced through
                      With amber and gold and blue—
                      A place of water and weeds,
                     . and roses pinker than dawn
                      And ranks of lush young reeds
                      And grasses straightly withdrawn
                      From graven ripples of sands.
                      The still blue heron stands."
                    /          .
 Comment:     This and other poems in  The New Book of Oxford Canadian Verse  such  as -Beaver
 utmmeni.     ^^     ^ ^^ Pmes Under Water- (p. 389) or "The Bull Moose" (p. 299)
               are other poetry included on wetland-related topics. Students are encouraged to browse
               this and other anthologies for poetry on related wetlands topics.
  * Available through book shops'                     -
  Code:  E=Easy Reader; F=Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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 PILGRIM AT TINKER CREEK*. Annie Dillard.  Bantam Books, New York; 1974; 280 p.; grades
 9 to 12; NF

 Summary:     Highly recommended!   Encompasses many levels and  disciplines,  including natural
               science, poetry, and philosophy.  A sensory, revealing and magical excursion into the
               natural and mystical world of the wetlands and watershed of Tinker Creek. Descriptions
               of experiences in author-naturalist's world in wetlands at Tinker Creek include:  author's
               experiences in chapter entitled, "Seeing," as she stalks the bank of a cattail marsh and
               observes a muskrat, turtle, and swallow; and an excellent account of a flood and its
               "tyrannical dominance" over the landscape including humans and other living things.

 Comment:     Annie Dillard received the Pulitzer Prize for Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. . A pilgrim
               watching for signs arid keys to the natural world, the author's excellent manipulation of
               words La a hands-on, experiential style enables  the reader to feel, hear  and smell the
               world of the naturalist.  The chapter on the flood is relevant to the economic importance
               of wetlands because wetlands help reduce flood levels. From the author's perspective,
               Tinker Creek in Virginia represents the universe and its spiritual complexity.


 THE POND. Robert Murphy. E.P. Dutton and Co., Inc.,  New York;  1964; 254 p.; grades 7 to 12;
 F

 Summary:     Reflective narrative portraying interaction between 14-year-old Joey, Mr. Ben and other
               characters Joey meets.  Excellent characterizations describing Joey's 'observations when
               getting away from home to spend time with Mr. Ben, an elderly caretaker, hi an obscure
               land near Richmond,, Virginia, where he develops an appreciation for the wildlife he
               encounters.

 Comment:     The Pond contains excellent descriptions, including when Joey befriends a maltreated dog
               and Joey's interactions with two  boys he meets  and their deformed,  crippled .brother.
               Murphy sympathetically contrasts their world with Joey's. Reading The Pond, one will
               experience Joey's adventures; the development and molding of emotions, Joey's progress
               towards maturity; and an appreciation for life in  the swamp, pond and woods.


 THE PORTABLE THOREAU*. Revised edition by Carl Bode.  Viking Penguin, New York; 1982;
 697 p.; grades 9 to 12; SC

.Summary:     Excellent  nature writing.  Contains writings on wetlands, including selections from
               Walden, The Maine Woods and A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers.  Editor
               writes of  nature's  claims on Thoreau, "that  it presented a sympathetic setting for his
               thoughts, a drapery for his dreams."  There was no human element to intrude.  "What
               he saw in Walden was that 'sweet solitude my spirit seemed so early to require' to invite
               his noblest thoughts.'" Following is an excerpt from Walden'.

                     "Not a fish can leap or an insect fall on the pond but it is thus reported
                      in circling dimples, in lines of beauty, as it were the constant welling up
 * Available through book shops -

 Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction;  NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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32
Comment:
       of its fountain, the gentle pulsing of its life, the heaving of its breast.
       The thrills of joy and thrills of pain are indistinguishable."

Henry David Thoreau is one of America's most influential nature writers.  He wrote
about his thoughts inspired by his detailed observations of the natural environment
including wetlands.  It is recommended the reader not limit her or himself to any one
work of Thoreau or other nature writers to gain insights into ponds, wetlands, and other
natural resources.
RUNES OF THE NORTH*. Sigurd F. Olson.  Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.,  New York; 1963; 256 p.,
grades 7 to 12; NF   .  .

Summary:     Legends, yarns and reflections drawn from northern Canada and Alaska.  Many chapters,
              such as Cranberry Bog", "Wild Rice" and "The Swamp," contain interesting descriptions
              of wetlands. Two sections of Runes of the North, "Le Beau Pays" and "Pays d'en Haut"
              reveal descriptions of man's lore of the land, rushing white water streams and lost lakes.

Comment:     Runes of the North depicts a wilderness, a large percentage consisting of lakes, rivers and
              wetlands.  Author Olson's runes (i.e., a tale of magic and mystery) will evoke the appeal
              of the wilderness.  Sigurd Olson was a notable woodsman with thirty years experience
              as a wilderness guide in northern Minnesota and Ontario.  He has the gift of skillfully
              weaving together descriptions of nature, such as a cranberry bog, with deep insights into
              man's innerworld. The text reinforces that wetlands are ubiquitous. They can occur just
              about anywhere water collects,  from a meter-wide puddle in the backyard, to  an
              expansive freshwater marsh remote from man and civilization.


A SAND COUNTY ALMANAC*. Aldo Leopold. Ballantine Books, New York; 1970; 270 p.; grades
9tol2;NF

Summary:     A classic by a highly acclaimed author-naturalist! This edition combines A Sand County
              Almanac (first published in 1949) with essays from Round River (1953). Journal writing
              of seasonal changes in nature over the period of one full year with abundant material on
              wetlanc, ,  such,  as, "Come High  Water" (p. 25), "Great  Possessions"  (p. 47) and
              "Manh sa" (p.  169).  Text includes essays from different areas around the continent,
              such  ai \rizona and Oregon but focuses primarily on Leopold's home in the Midwest.
              Leopoic addresses man's destructive interference with nature and concludes with a plea
              for a conservation land ethic.

Comment:     A Sand County Almanac is a must for anyone  interested in things wild and free, and
              protection of the  land  on which they  (and  we) depend.    Leopold  reveals the
              interdependence between living things in the environment, particularly the critical and
              inseparable role wetlands play in the delicate balance of living systems and the earth.
              Below is a passage from "Marshland Elegy":
   Available through book shops-

Code: E=Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF=Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                                                                                        33
                    "A  dawn  wind stirs on the  great marsh.  With almost imperceptible
                     slowness, it rolls a bank of fog across the wild morass. Like the white
                     ghost of a glacier, the mists advance, riding over phalanxes of tamarack,
                     sliding across bog  meadows heavy with dew.  A single silence hangs
                     from horizon to horizon." (p. 101)
SWAMP FOX*. Robert Duncan Bass. Henry Holt and Company, New York; 1959; 275 p.; grades
9 to 12; NF

Summary:     Historic account of Francis  Marion's activities during Revolutionary War when he
              retained eastern South Carolina from the British and later, with Nathaniel Greene, drove
              the British from South Carolina.   Historic documentation includes  many  swamp
              experiences.

Comment:     The swamp provided a good hiding place for the resourceful Swamp Fox and his troops.
              Descriptions of swamps abound throughout the text, painting a picture in the reader's eye
              of real wetlands. The author, Robert Duncan Bass,  describes Little Peedee Swamp as:

                    "... giant  cypress trees rearing their  fronds into the sky, their knees
                     protruding from the black loam and their limbs  draped with streaming
                     Spanish moss.   From  all around came the  sour,  pleasant  smell of
                     decaying vegetation and mucky soil."


THIS INCOMPARABLE LANDE*. Thomas J. Lyon. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston;  1989; 495
p.; grades 10 to 12; SC

Summary:     Begins with a history of nature writing in America and a  discussion of major writers; an
              "Anthology of American Nature Writing" follows with a comprehensive selection from
              these  authors  including  those who have written wetland material, such as William
              Bartram's,  "East and West  Florida" and John James  Audubon's, "The Great Pine
              Swamp."

Comment:     Works of  the great nature  writers in This Incomparable Lande provide excellent
              descriptions of natural history and reveal a sense of oneness with nature.  It touches on
              Man's ethical responsibility towards the land and its vital wetlands.  For example,
              Thoreau  speaks  about human consciousness not being  a separate human state but a
              partnership with nature.

              Below is a an example from This Incomparable Lande by one of the early nature writers,
              John James Audubon (1785-1851). Artist, ornithologist and writer, Audubon walked and
              rode through the recently settled states, alert to more than birds, particularly  the beauty
              and inexplicable magnetism of wilderness and the diverse assortment of human characters
              he met in the back country.  The following writing  represents his most direct, concrete
              style:
 A^-,*,

 * Available through book shops-

 Code:  E = Easy  Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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 34
                     "It was the month of October.  The Autumnal.tints already decorated the
                      shores of that queen of rivers, the Ohio.  Every tree was hung with
                      clustered fruits of varied brilliancy, their rich bronzed carmine mingling
                      beautifully with the yellow foliage, which now predominated over the yet
                      green leaves, reflecting more lively tints from the clear stream than ever
                      landscape painter portrayed or poet imagined."  (p. 47)
THROUGH THE EYES OF A YOUNG NATURALIST*. William A. Sipple. Gateway Press, Inc.,
Baltimore; 1991; 204 p.; grades 9 to 12; NF

Summary:     Anecdotal  and nostalgic account of author's  outdoor  natural history experiences as
               youngster, teenager and young adult in New Jersey from 1951 to 1971. Author provides
              ' numerous autobiographical accounts of activities within the New Jersey countryside,
              . beginning with adventures of the author as a young birder, includes accounts of hunting,
               fishing, trapping and camping in the New Jersey Pine Barrens, on the  Hackensack
               Meadows and along the New Jersey Coast.

Comment:     Through the Eyes of a Young Naturalist is written for a wide variety of outdoor and
               natural history enthusiasts both young and  old,  amateur and professional. It documents
              -Sipple's changing interests, his environmental ethic and societal changes in attitudes and
               behavior toward natural resources.  Part V, "Evolving Ethics" elaborates on the author's
               personal  perspective on the outdoors and the public's changing attitudes towards one of
               his favorite natural environments—wetlands.

               Available from William S. Sipple, 512 Red Bluff Court, MUlersville, Maryland 21108


WALKING THE WETLANDS*. Janet Lyons and Sandra Jordan. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New
York; 1989; 222 p.; index; bibliography; NF

Summary:      Written as a hiker's guide to identify plants and animals that inhabit marshes, bogs and
               swamps.  Includes full-page pen drawings accompanied by written descriptions of living
               organisms  in freshwater wetlands of the United States.  Individual profiles contain
               concise descriptions of range of habitat, and informative essays on the natural history of
               wetland habitats.

Comments:     Waiting  The  Wetlands  is a handy resource guide for  the field.  Although not
               comprehensive (e.g., herons are included, but not egrets), it reveals the value of wetlands
               through descriptions of individual organisms found there.  The appendix lists wetland
               areas in the National Park and National Refuge Systems.  It is important  to note that
               many species described in the text are not limited to wetlands .(like raccoons and mink),
               but nonetheless frequent  wetland habitats.
* Available through book shops-

Code:  E-Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                                                                                       35
 WANDERING THROUGH WINTER*
 1965; 370 p.; grades 6 to 12; NF
Edwin Way Teale. Dodd, Mead and Company, New York;
Summary:     Excellent material on wetlands woven throughout text.  Opens in the southern tip of
              California as naturalist Teale travels north and east to northern Maine, describing his
              experiences with nature along the zigzag route of his wandering 20,000 mile journey.
              Teale describes the remarkable adaptations of the common cattail, and its use by Indians
              both for weaving mats and moccasins, and as an important food source.  In the chapter,
              "The Great Swamp," the author discusses the value of the northern wetlands to deer for
              providing shelter and forage as they "yard up" in groups to survive winter in the chapter,
              "The Deer Yard."

                    "Each year, as soon as the snow begins to pile up in the north woods,
                     these animals gather into bands ...  choosing some area protected from
                     the cold winds and provided with such food  as twigs, bark, tree lichens
                     and evergreen boughs, settle down for the winter.  Most  frequently,
                    .cedar swamps are selected."  (pp. 325-326)

Comment:     Wandering Through Winter is the fourth  of a series by respected artist, writer  and
              naturalist, Edwin Way Teale, on traveling cross country with the seasons. Teale writes
              about the natural history of each season during his journeys. His other titles about the
              seasons are: Nortk With The Spring, the narration of a 17,000 mile journey from Florida
              to Canada as author keeps pace with the advance of spring; Journey into Simmer;  and
              Autumn Across America follow.  All four  books contain  material on wetlands and are
              recommended reading for learning about wetlands.


THE WATER IS WIDE*. Pat Conroy.  Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston; 1972; 260 p.; grades 10 to 12;
NF                                    '.

Summary:     Powerful and inspiring true account of Pat Conroy who chose to spend a year of his life
              teaching black children on an impoverished  island on the South Carolina coast.  Although
              its inhabitants had been living proudly off the sea, industrial  waste had made its waters,
              including many wetlands,  unsafe, threatening their lives—until one day when Pat Conroy
              walked into the office of the superintendent and offered to  teach on the island which  had
              no teacher.  This is the account of that moving and incredible experience.

Comment:     The Water Is Wide is a must!  The setting, Yamacraw, is an island off the South Carolina
              coast not far from Savannah,  Georgia. There, wetlands abound as "undulating marshes"
              fringe the southern coast with "dark, threatening silences of the swamps in the heart of
              the  island."  Already familiar with wetlands, his  father's  pursuits had led  Pat into
              swamplands of the East Coast.
44444444444444444444444444444444************

* Available through book shops •

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction;  SC = Story Collection

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 36                                      .
 WATEK POLLUTION*. Kathlyn Gay.  "Impact Books" Series, Watts, Kirkwood; 1990; 128 p.;
 grades 10 to 12; NF

 Summary    ' Balanced, well-written and well-organized with clear,, detailed scientific explanations.
               Provides information on the water cycle, sources of water, water pollution, attempts at
               clean-up and how to prevent continued misuse of this natural resource.  Explains the
               importance of wetlands in terms  of ecology and water systems,  absorption of toxic
               compounds, prevention of aquifer contamination, and flood control.

 Comment:     Water Pollution is a fine resource for the student who wants to understand the unique
               properties of water, the key characteristics of wetlands and the  pervasive problems
               resulting from water pollution as h affects wetlands and other natural resources.


 WETLANDS*. William Niering. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York; 1985; 640 p.; grades 9  to 12;
 index; NF             -                                                •
                                                           o
 Summon:     Well-written field guide published by National Audubon Society.  Contains wetlands
               information including  color descriptions of different kinds of wetlands; dynamics of
               wetlands; discussions of ecosystems such as bogs, marshes and shrub swamps; colorplates
               of wetlands  in  the United States;  photographs; descriptions of plants and animals;
               glossary; bibliography; and index.

 Comment:     Wetlands is an excellent guide for learning about wetlands! It is comprehensive but not
               overly technical. Niering has provided distribution maps of different wetlands types and .
               range maps for animals and plants.  Below is an  excerpt from Wetlands:

                     "A typical flooded marsh is often a mosaic of emergents, submergents and
                      floating plants, interspersed with areas of open water. The marsh plants,
                      the primary producers,  are at the base of the food chain ... Among the
                      primary consumers are muskrats, ducks and  even people, when they
                      harvest Wild Rice." (pp. 46-47)


 WETLANDS. Max Firlaison and Michael Moser, (General Editors).  Facts oh File Limited; New
. York; 1991; 224 p.; grades 10 to 12; NF

 Summon:    Glossy, spectacular book prepared by the International Waterfowl and Wetlands Research
               Bureau (IWRB).  A documented account of the status of the world's major wetlands by
               continent. Wetlands and their values opens the volume by defining wetlands, describing
               major types (swamps, peatlands, mangroves are a few), and discussing their vulnerability
               and the need for conservation of these internationally important resources.

  Comment:     Wetlands is very comprehensive.  It presents the world's wetlands as they are foundon
                each continent.  It addresses the impacts of recreation, pollution and agriculture.  This
                book emphasizes that the threat to wetlands may be due to activities elsewhere in the
                basin.
  * Available through book shops •

  Code:  £ = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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                                                                                      37
 List of Additional Books for Secondary Students
 The sections describing these additional books are in parenthesis:
 A Naturalist's Sketchbook, Claire Walker Leslie (intermediate)
 The Snow Goose, Paul Gallico (intermediate)
 The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame (intermediate).
 Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Geographic Society (intermediate)
 The Yearling, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (intermediate)
* Available through book shops •

Code:  E = Easy Reader; F = Fiction; NF = Nonfiction; SC = Story Collection

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       38                                                                          •
                                        KEY WETLAND TOPICS




       m*r7rSofcT^LTand continue to be written on wetlands. A few key words for finding additional.
       books on wetlands topics are listed below:
       alligators
       amphibians
       bayou
       beaver
       birds
       boating
       bogs
       carnivorous plants
        dragonfiies
        docks
        estuaries
        Everglades
        explorers
        fens
        fish
        frogs
        insectivorous plants
        insects
        Lewis and Clark
        lily pad
        marshes
        muskrats
        nature writers
        pitcher plants
        ponds
        rivers
        Seminole Indians.
        snails
        spring peepers
        streams
        sloughs
        swamp
        toads
        water
t

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