Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia

Written by: Sy Montgomery
Photographs by: Nic Bishop
Recommended for: Children Ages
Themes: Non-Fiction, Science, Social Studies

Summary:
      This book chronicles the journey of several widlife experts as they work to catch and track the white leopard in an attempt to save them from extinction. This book also give wonderful information about the country of Mongolia, as this is where this section of their expedition takes place. The author adds in information about the culture, lifestyle, topography and wildlife of Mongolia as he describes the mission of these experts.
     Children will enjoy learning about the culture of Mongolia. This book will give them a glimpse into what it would be like living in this Asian country. The book gives maps, to help children to understand where Mongolia is, as well as wonderful photographs of the people, animals and land in Mongolia. The information is presented in a way where it is interesting and not overwhelming to children, however, it would be best to break this book up into different sections in order to make it more manageable.

Suggestions for the Classroom:
     This book would be best used to support instruction on the cultures of Asia, that of Mongolia in particular. In addition, the book provides information about the wildlife of Mongolia, including: snow leopards, goats, camels, takhi (wild horse),yaks, etc.
*Pre-Reading Activities: Show children a map of the world. Point out to them where Mongolia is. If possible, show them a short video about Mongolia to peak their interest:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abKtXa-UCP8 or http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/planet-earth-camels-of-the-gobi-desert.html
*During Reading: In small groups, reading groups, create a book club where you will read with students different sections of the book each day (Chap. 1- Where is Mongolia, Chap. 2- About the Experts, Chap. 3- Culture of Mongolia, Chap. 4 - Trapping and Tagging, Chap. 5- Topography, etc). With the children, point out the important details (Book Talks) from each section using a graphic organizer. *You may want to select different books to go with different Book Club groups to give students opportunities to work with different levels and to provide a greater variety of information to be shared at its conclusion.
*Post-Reading Activities: At the conclusion of the Book Club have the students prepare some sort of visual representation of what they have learned, a poster, using the information that they have collected on their graphic organizers during your Book Talks.

About the Author:
     Sy Montgomery a graduate of Syracuse University, with three degrees in: Magazine Journalism from the Newhouse School of Public Communication; the French Language and Literature; and in Psychology. She has traveled extensively to do research for her books which center around the preservation and protection of animals. She has received several awards for her writing, including: the 2009 New England Independent Booksellers Association Nonfiction Award, the 2010 Children’s Book Guild Nonfiction Award, the Henry Bergh Award for Nonfiction (given by the ASPCA for Humane Education) and dozens of other honors.

About the Photographer:
     Nic Bishop moved around a lot as a child, the son of a Biology professor he was taught to love and respect the animals found around him in each place that they traveled to and lived in. He began taking photographs at the age of 9 and as an adult decided to pursue his degree in Biology as well. He decided to travel after receiving his degree and took his cameras with him to chronicle his journey around the world, which he later turned into his first book Untouched Horizons. He decided to get into providing photographs for children's books after seeing how children responded to his work and thinking back to his love for non-fiction books as a child.

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