River Friendly, River Wild by Jane Kurtz.
Illustrated by Neil Brennan. (2000) Reading Level: Ages 4-10. 40 pages.
Simon & Schuster. ISBN: 0689820496.. |
River Friendly, River Wild
by Jane Kurtz
Illustrated by Neil Brennan
| River Friendly, River Wild presents
narrative poems that focus directly on the emotion and experiences
surrounding the 1997 flooding of the Red River in Grand Forks, North
Dakota.
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The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators have selected River Friendly, River Wild as the 2000 Golden Kite Award Winner, in the picture book category. Kirkus Reviews said that River Friendly, River Wild
is a "book that belongs on every shelf in buildings up and down the
country's riverways." Brennan's expressive oil paintings capture the
essence of the universality of Kurtz's lyrical poetry.
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Classroom Connections
Background readings about the flood
Jane Kurtz writes about the Red River Flood
Other Books to Read
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River Friendly, River Wild tells of a flood caused by natural causes. Jane Yolen has written a book, Letting Swift River Go (illustrated by Barbara Cooney, Little Brown, 1992; ISBN# 0-316-96899-4
hardcover o.p.,ISBN# 0-316-96860-9 paperback. This book is available as an Econoclad edition,
ISBN: 078578036X ) that tells quite a different story about a flood created intentionally and the toll
that flood took on another community.
After reading River Friendly, River Wild and Letting Swift River
Go, compare and contrast the communities in the aftermath of the floods described in the
books. Compare the children's experiences with watching their homes destroyed in the Red River
Valley to those of the young girl who watches her town become a watery wilderness as the
government floods entire towns of Western Massachusetts to create the Quabbin
Reservoir.
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Read about another flood in Mary Calhoun's Flood
(Morrow, 1997). This book tells the fictional account of a young girl's
home and its destruction during the 1993 Mississippi River flood.
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For more information about the Red River flood, read: Faces of the Flood : Manitoba's Courageous Battle Against the Red River by Tom Thomson (Illustrator), and Shirley Sandrel. (Stoddart Publishing, 1998; ISBN: 0773730559)
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For another acount of a flood read Come a Tide by George Ella Lyon with illustrations by Stephen Gammell (Orchard, 1990). Come a Tide has been described as a young girl's account of the spring floods at her rural home. Compare and Contrast Come a Tide with the story Jane Kurtz told through her poems in River Friendly, River Wild.
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Some of the suggestions provided above are included in a
study guide prepared to correlate with Social Studies and Language Arts
Standards. To access those pages click here.
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