Grand Canyon: (Caldecott Honor Book)

“Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness.”-President Theodore RooseveltHow do I begin to describe the majestic wonder that is the Grand Canyon? I was lucky to have hiked down its winding path first-hand as an adolescent. It has left an indelible impact on my life and has fostered a love of nature that has continued to grow.“Grand Canyon” is a remarkable book written and illustrated by Jason Chin. Much like his other books, it is a non-fiction picture book packed with scientific and historical facts about the formation, ecology, and geology of this natural wonder. It even includes the route the characters took for future hikers to take note of. The information included in the back is a treasure trove of facts. Beautiful and detailed illustrations make this an excellent nonfiction addition to your library.Some facts:1. Grand Canyon became a national Park in 19082. At a massive 1,904 square miles, Grand Canyon National Park is bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island (1,212 square miles).3. President Theodore Roosevelt established the Grand Canyon Game Preserve by proclamation in 1906, and declared Grand Canyon National Monument in 1908.4. The Hopi Tribe considers views the Grand Canyon to be a place of great spiritual significance as they consider it a gateway to the afterlife5. The most dangerous animal in the canyon is not the Bighorn Sheep or the Gila monster, it is actually the Rock Squirrel (many visitors have felt its bite)!6. Its canyons are full of fossils but none of them are dinosaurs. The canyon layers were formed long before dinosaurs walked the earth. There are however, fossils of ancient marine animals that date back 1.2 billion years.7. No one really knows how old the Grand Canyon is. Recent studies show that the Colorado River may have started carving the canyon 70 million years ago (and not 6 million years ago as was previously thought).

Ok, I am not too proud to say this… we were visiting the Grand Canyon last month and saw this book in one of the stores within the park. It was exactly what we wanted! Beautiful artwork - nice story. Fun! I wanted 3 copies as gifts. I was surprised to get good cell reception at the Grand Canyon but I did and looked to see if Amazon had the book available. Not only did they - it was $7 cheaper than at the park! I ordered 3 and they were delivered the day we returned! The kids loved them!

This is literally one of the best children's picture books I've ever seen! For any child interested in the world of nature, the outdoors, evolution, paleoecology, geology, or natural history this book will be profoundly satisfying. Beautiful, detailed illustrations that realistically capture the feel of this high desert landscape and each elevation’s own ecological zone, alternate between the Grand Canyon as it looks today and how that terrain looked hundreds of millions of years ago (sometimes taking us underwater). The book gives a real sense of our earth's history in a way that will be very accessible to children of any age, as seen through the eyes of a girl exploring the Grand Canyon with her father. Pre-readers will pore over the illustrations (I'd have spent hours looking at those as a child!) and take in on their own level the text their parents read to them. Older children (I would not hesitate to give this book to an intelligent 6th grader) will get even more out of this book. Actually, I would recommend this wholeheartedly to adults as well; it fills one with joy and a sense of great wonder. How great is our God!(Perhaps I'd better add, for those who are uncomfortable with my exclamation: This book does not speak of God, but it will lead anyone who does believe in God to praise Him.)

Oh my, I wish I would not have ordered that book. You pretty much have to use a black sharpy to blackout all the deceptive and unscientific content in this book. This book is not recommended as the "millions and billions of years" fantasy numbers are listed here as if there were facts but they are not scientifically proven, this is all just mumbo jumbo Darwinist nonsense repeated over and over again in books as if it were factual.Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money on this book. The illustrations are nice but some pages about how the Grand Canyon must have looked like "Millions of years ago" is also untrue and not proven which makes the illustrations from the past questionable as well as they were not scientifically observed. A real waste of money!

It's a very warm story about a father - daughter relationship while discovering the Grand Canyon.

This book is a fantastic work of nonfiction; upon our first read my five year old and I were singing about how much we love science. With beautiful illustrations, Chin creates a remarkable, thorough, detailed work about the Grand Canyon, with everything from geology, geography, biology, and numerous other focuses as you go along. The information is presented in the narrative of a girl and her father hiking throughout the canyon, going from present day to the past and back, inviting children to use their imagination but to also get a real sense of this place without ever visiting (although it might make you want to visit!). This is a must-read for any study about the area, but also for any area of science relating to its relevant topics.

My kids (7 & 10) and I loved this book! The illustrations are just gorgeous, and the story telling is perfect. The level of detail was spot on. The book imparts loads of information without being overwhelming. We are planning a trip to the Grand Canyon and this is the perfect primer for us. Thank you to the author for such a fabulous book!

This book is beautifully illustrated and a great way to learn about the geological history of the Grand Canyon.

A gift

¿Puede un libro sobre geología ser atractivo para los niños? Normalmente la respuesta sería no, pero Jason Chin lo ha logrado con Grand Canyon. Lo mejor del libro es la forma en la que nos hace entender fácilmente cómo se creó el cañón y como era en el pasado. Nos lo cuenta a través de una niña que visita el Cañón de Colorado con su padre, de vez en cuando ve un fósil y al pasar la página tenemos ese mismo fósil cuando estaba vivo, nadando en un océano de hace millones de años donde ahora sólo hay desierto.

My 9 year old son visited the Grand Canyon and I was looking for a book to read up on it afterwards with him. I'm a big fan of Jason Chin's other books -- they're all beautifully drawn and well researched, so they have a strong educational component. This book is even better than his other ones -- it's so intricately detailed and meticulously researched. The pictures are beautiful: this book is fantastic! I recommend it highly!

Un livre d’une pure beauté