Grand Canyon

Starred review from November 28, 2016
Chin (Island: A Story of the Galapagos) packs the geologic history of the Grand Canyon into a stunningly illustrated story of a magical father-daughter hike. The duo’s daylong trek out of the magnificent landform becomes a journey through time, as discoveries along the trail transport the girl to various eras in the canyon’s creation. A prosaic narrative of facts follows their ascent (“Above the basement layer, you’ll reach the Grand Canyon Supergroup”), while, at each new rock layer, the girl notices a fossil or other anomaly through a small die-cut hole. Turning the page, readers find her transported across epochs: a trilobite fossil turns into its living namesake as the surprised girl finds herself floating in an ancient sea. Vignettes of flora and fauna from different elevations frame scenes of the hike, as do explanatory sidebars about how rock layers and fossils form. With narrow white borders, the already-realistic ink-and-watercolor illustrations resemble photographs, evoking a scrapbook, and a concluding gatefold opens to reveal an awe-inspiring panoramic portrait of the Grand Canyon near sunset. Endnotes to this multilayered, thorough, and ingeniously assembled primer offer additional ecologic, geologic and anthropologic information. Ages 7–12.

December 1, 2016
Starting from their campsite at the bottom of the 1,000-foot-deep Inner Gorge, an Asian-American child and her dad traverse three separate habitats until they arrive at the South Rim, 22 miles later.Descriptions of the landscape, plants, and animals are provided alongside a running commentary of the geologic history of the canyon's formation. Gorgeously detailed artwork captures this unique ecological niche's amazing diversity of life. The borders framing most pages are filled with illustrations depicting the rock strata, flora, and fauna associated with the different elevations of the canyon. Small, shaped die-cut windows highlight fossilized trilobites, shells, and footprints and provide gateways to imaginative flashbacks to the canyon's past, while a gatefold reveals a magnificent panoramic view of the truly grand canyon at sunset. In approaching his subject, Chin uses the relatively dry factual approach he employed in Island (2012) rather than the wonderfully successful fusion of fact and imagination he introduced in Redwoods (2009) and Coral Reefs (2011). Inexplicably, a guidebook to the Grand Canyon (this very book?) remains in the girl's backpack--in effect relegating the child's role to observer rather than engaged participant save for a few imaginary trips to the past. Despite the wealth of maps provided, there isn't one clearly delineating the journey undertaken by father and daughter. Appended are comprehensive background notes, bibliography, and further reading. The in-depth information is easily accessible to curious readers of any age. Beautiful but, sadly, not as immersive as Chin's fans may hope. (Informational picture book. 6-11)

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Starred review from January 1, 2017

Gr 3-5-A breathtaking walk through multiple habitats and deep time. Beginning at the banks of the Colorado River, a child and her adult companion hike up the South Kaibab trail from 1.84 billion-year-old "basement rocks" past the layers of the Grand Canyon Supergroup, the Bright Angel Shale, and other major formations to the Kaibab Limestone layer at the top. At the same time, the two pass through riparian greenery, sun-baked desert scrub, and pinyon juniper woodland to reach the South Rim's ponderosa pine forest. In Chin's cleanly drawn scenes, viewers who follow along will catch glimpses of characteristic flora and fauna (with other wildlife lined up along the margins) at each elevation, plus clear looks at each distinctive rock layer. Better yet, occasional fossils in the rocks, seen through cutouts, temporarily transport the child with a page turn to prehistoric mudflats, sand dunes, and sea floor. A double gatefold vista vividly underscores Chin's opening proposition that the canyon is "much more than just a big hole in the ground," and the author supplements his information-rich running commentary with further notes and illustrations covering the canyon's history, human settlement, ecology, and geology. It's all Grand. VERDICT An outstanding introduction to one of the world's greatest outdoor wonders, with much to offer elementary students about Southwestern biomes, sedimentary geology, and the profound pleasures of observing nature.-John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York City

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 15, 2016
Grades 2-5 *Starred Review* Filled with arresting artwork and fascinating information, Chin's imposing latest proves that the Grand Canyon is much more than just a big hole in the ground. Following a father and daughter from the North Rim to the South Rim, Chin's virtual hiking tour, which features actual locations and views, takes readers from the oldest, deepest area of the Grand Canyon (the Inner Gorge) to the youngest (Ponderosa Pine Forest). His stunning illustrations do double duty, offering snapshots of the pair's trek as well as myriad details in the page margins, such as a visual catalog of plants and animals that live in each featured region of the canyon, diagrams clearly explaining how the canyon was formed, and spreads revealing what the canyon looked like millions, even billions, of years ago. Chin's straightforward, lucid text seamlessly integrates concepts and scientific terms in engaging paragraphs full of surprising information, all of which is beautifully complemented by the illustrations. A culminating, panoramic gatefold spread reveals a breathtaking vista of the canyon, now made all the more incredible by the wealth of information in the preceding pages. Plenty of additional reading and information about the canyon closes out the volume. With vivid imagination, a crystal-clear grasp of the facts, and brilliant artwork, this illuminating look at one of the planet's most fascinating features will entrance young readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

Starred review from January 1, 2017
Vacationing in Grand Canyon provides a father and daughter--and readers--numerous opportunities to explore this National Park's geology and ecology. Travel guide-like narration ("After climbing out of the Inner Gorge, you'll find yourself on a broad, sun-baked slope") presents accurate scientific information, while the illustrations, laid out like photos from a camping trip, depict the pair's adventures hiking from the bottom of the canyon to the top. Chin's detailed, scenic watercolors portray actual sites (he takes a few artistic liberties, carefully documented in an author's note). As the two explore the rocks, fossils, and landforms along the trail, selected objects are cleverly featured through subtle die-cuts. Turn the page, and the girl is transported back in time to the ancient geologic environments in which the rocks were formed, or the fossilized animals lived. In some cases, the shifts are to marine environments, a stunning juxtaposition with the desert landscapes of the present. This representation captures the essence of field geology: artifacts of the earth are indeed conduits to the past, brought to life through scientific imagination. The perimeters of some pages are filled with delicate sketches and diagrams in muted colors reminiscent of the dry rock landscape. They go into great detail on how rocks and fossils form, the plant and animal species found in the various ecological niches present in the canyon, and the very formation of the canyon itself. Near the end of the book, an immersive four-page foldout brings readers to the canyon rim, to marvel at "the grandest canyon on Earth." The final pages of the book provide even more scientific information. danielle j. ford

(Copyright 2017 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)