A true story written like fiction, very easy to read. Lots of information about caribou and their habitat, but not at all in a textbook or preachy way. The landscape descriptions are good, but obviously cannot do the story justice. I really enjoyed reading about their trek, finding and following and losing (rinse, repeat) caribou. There is an excellent sense of ecology and of a world that is bigger than humans. It reminds me of what is out there, what we have lost, what we could protect.
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Non-Fiction: Picturebook
Heuer, Karsten Being Caribou: Five Months on Foot with a Caribou Herd. Walker & Co., 2007. 48p. Middleschool and above
Karsten Heuer and his wife, Leanne, follow the caribou on their yearly migration from Northwestern Canada to the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. This informative, moving book shows how more the caribou travel thousands of miles battling the elements and predators to get to their birthing grounds. Told in the third person narrative view, this book has a survival theme. Story is accompanied by beautiful photographs taken by the couple.
AK: caribou, wolves, grizzly bears, Arctic, tundra
Activity: Have the students trace on a map the path the Heuers took on their epic journey. Ask students if they have seen caribou and ask if they know the difference between caribou and reindeer. If they don’t, lead them to information on the subject. ( )

The joke was on me! After seeing this title on a "Recommended Reading" list, I mail-ordered it, only to wind up with the children's book, rather than the adult version. Forty-eight pages of nice photos with a text that didn't say much more than, "Caribou are impressive creatures. It was challenging to follow them." Whether this stands up well as a children's book, I don't feel qualified to judge.

One thing the book did prompt me to do was to watch the "Being Caribou" documentary produced by the National Film Board of Canada (available on the NFB Web site to watch for free). I enjoyed that.

I imagine there's even more in the adult version of the book which I'll have to read someday.

Well I would like to read the full length version some day, but my current library only has the picture book. It was still rather interesting, if open-ended and simplified - as picture books are want to be. ( )

A quick read that will teach you a little about caribou migration. It has lots of pretty photographs ( )