Near One Cattail
Written by: Anthony D. Fredericks
Illustrated by: Jennifer DiRubbio
Published by Dawn Publications in Nevada City, California in 2005
ISBN: 1-58469-071-2
Genre: Informational Text
Reading Level: Grade 4
Activity Level: Grades 2, 4
Summary: This is an accumulating story. It is somewhat like the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas" in that when you get to the end of the book, you are reading everything you have read before.
In this work there exists a preface about the wetlands and field notes about all of the creatures in the back of the book. Each time a new creature or element of this place is introduced to the reader, its name is in bold print so that it makes a striking impression on the reader and separates itself from the other creatures previously described in the work.
The final page of this book says "Here's a medley of critters who swim, soar or crawl in this sog-soggy home that protects one and all. It's a marvelous place to cherish and preserve" (p. 24), thus, sending a conservation message to all the children who read this work!
Response: I really like the accumulating nature of this book because it is both informative, as repetition is akin to studying the wetlands in this book, and great for intermediate readers. Once an unsure readers has mastered one line of this work, he or she has really mastered several lines of print since they are often repeated, which can give the reader a great sense of accomplishment!
The illustrations in this book are absolutely amazing! Each one is a beautiful two-page spread in, probably, acrylic paints. The colors are strikingly beautiful and the illustrations make one feel as though she is in the wetlands with the girl in the book. They make you want to reach out and touch the creatures the author writes of!
Teaching Connections: For younger children, they may need help with some of the larger words in this book, so it would be best to have the teacher read this to them and the follow the reading with a discussion about the animals and their habitats (2nd grade NC curriculum).
For older students, such as fourth graders, this could be a book for them to read in order to begin their research on the wetlands or for their teacher to read to them to being a unit on such places and on conservation. The teacher could also read this book to her class and then separate them into groups and assign each group to research one of the animals in the story for that lesson.
What Students Learn: Students learn about wetlands, conservation, and many interesting creatures from this book and the activities discussed above.
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