Title: Cat Prowling
Author: Maria Gianferrari
Illustrator: Bagram Ibatoulline
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, 2022
Ages: 5-8
Format/Genre: narrative nonfiction
Themes: bobcats, yearling, territory
Opening:
Beyond your house,
behind tall pines,
under paling stars
Mother Bobcat wakes.
Bobcat Yearling,
from last year’s litter,
stretches and yawns.
Synopsis:
A young bobcat leaves tracks in the snow as he sets out to find a home range of his own. Amidst the harsh winds and icy chill of winter, Yearling travels between the deep wilderness and suburbia, hunting for prey as he goes. He tracks hare, squirrel, pheasant…
Watching.
Waiting.
LEAP!
But each time, he is foiled by the resident predator. Will Yearling find a territory to call his own? (publisher)
Why I like this book:
This is a stunning companion to Coyote Moon and Hawk Rising, which I have already reviewed on Miss Marple’s Musings. If you or your children avid naturalists like me, you will want to read this one.
This is a beautiful, educational and lyrical nonfiction picture book about a young yearling bobcat’s search for a new home range. The author made many skilful choices in creating this book. Firstly to follow a yearling cat with the very clear goal of finding its own territory. Secondly, using poetic but not rhyming stanzas. Thirdly, using the second person POV, inviting readers to join the bobcat on its journey as well as the environment around them. The pursuit of a place to live is full of challenge as the yearling stalks prey only to be chased away time and time again by another predator whose territory they has strayed into. This makes for tense and exciting reading.
The illustrations are full of action and as someone who lives with Coyote’s nearby whose yearlings also need to find their own territory, I loved how the bobcat yearling’s territory ends up near a human family. Bobcats are one of several species I still want to see in the wild here in the US.
Resources/Activities:
As with her previous texts, Gianferrari includes lots of great facts, further reading and website recommendations in the backmatter.
Each week a group of bloggers reviews picture books we feel would make great educational reads. To help teachers, caregivers and parents, we have included resources and/or activities with each of our reviews. A complete list of the thousands of books we have reviewed can be found sorted alphabetically and by topics, here on Susanna Leonard Hill’s website.
In my 20's, with only my guitar and a rucksack, I wandered the continents, immersing myself in the lives of some wonderful people, projects and stories, which changed the way I view my responsibility to others and this earth. Right now I'm a European transplant in the US who writes books for children and young adults. Stories can help us not only navigate our world but can connect us to others, and allow us to inspire and help each other. I believe that equity and empathy should be at the core of our all actions, words, and stories.
I am also a school librarian and I get a kick out of book-matchmaking! And I use the pronouns she/her.
Thank you so much, Joanna! I didn’t realize you were back to blogging! I hope you’ll get to see a bobcat in the wild some day soon! We have some living in our neighborhood, and we saw one pass through our back yard last April which was very exciting! I tend to see more signs that they’ve passed through (tracks), or seeing them on neighbor’s webcams vs. in person. I hope you’re well!
This one has been on my radar (I love Maria’s other books), but I haven’t picked it up yet. Thanks for the nudge!