The Beavers' Busy Year - Paperback

by Mary Holland (Author)

Along a stream a dam pops out of the water. Beavers are busy at work! These aquatic mammals have unique traits that aid them in building the perfect lodge to raise young beavers and keep predators away. Mary Holland's vibrant photographs document the beavers' activities through the course of a year. Do these beavers ever take a break? Follow along as they pop through the winter ice to begin the busy year of eating bark, building dams and gathering food just in time for winter to come again. This nonfiction picture book with a cuddle factor includes a 6-page For Creative Minds section in the back of the book and a 35-page cross-curricular Teaching Activity Guide online. The Beavers' Busy Year is vetted by experts and designed to encourage parental engagement. Its extensive back matter helps teachers with time-saving lesson ideas, provides extensions for science, math, and social studies units, and uses inquiry-based learning to help build critical thinking skills in young readers. The Spanish translation supports ELL and dual-language programs. The interactive ebook reads aloud in both English and Spanish with word highlighting and audio speed control to promote oral language skills, fluency, pronunciation, text engagement, and reading comprehension.

Author Biography

Mary Holland is a naturalist, nature photographer, columnist, and award-winning author with a life-long passion for natural history. After graduating from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources, Mary worked as a naturalist at the Museum of the Hudson Highlands in New York state, directed the state-wide Environmental Learning for the Future program for the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, worked as a resource naturalist for the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and designed and presented her own -Knee-High Nature Programs- for libraries and elementary schools throughout Vermont and New Hampshire. In addition to Animal Legs, Animal Mouths, and Animal Eyes her children's books include Otis the Owl, A Beaver's Busy Year and Ferdinand Fox's First Summer (NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Books, Moonbeam Bronze award) with Arbordale and Milkweed Visitors, (Science Books and Films' list for the best books of 2006 in the category Children's Books under Zoological Sciences). Mary's book Naturally Curious: a Photographic Field Guide and Month-by-Month Journey Through the Fields, Woods and Marshes of New England won the 2011 National Outdoor Book Award for the Nature Guidebook category. Mary lives in Vermont with her lab, Emma. Visit Mary's blog Naturally Curious with Mary Holland