Books with author Betsy Bowen

In this companion to Gathering: A Northwoods Counting Book Betsy Bowen again captures the vibrant magic in each northwoods day through effortless prose and colorful woodcuts. While the canoe waits beneath the heavy snow and the river freezes over, bears turn in for long winter naps and people spend time reading by the fire or bundled up in layers. But when spring comes, it’s time for kayaking, fishing, and listening to the quiet pond sounds of the new season. All of this and more is celebrated in Bowen’s warm and unusual alphabet book that introduces children to the cyclical rhythms of life in our country’s northern states.

In the northwoods, most of the year is spent preparing for the longest and most demanding season: winter. Families of people and animals alike begin their gathering for the cold months as early as the start of spring. Much needs to be done - planting and gardening, fishing and berry picking, chopping and piling wood, harvesting wild rice, and searching for warm boots and socks. Like the firewood and jarred rhubarb, summer memories are stored so that stargazing and fireflies are remembered on the coldest of winter days. In this companion to her memorable debut, Antler, Bear, Canoe: A Northwoods Alphabet Year, Betsy Bowen delights readers with a warm regard for the woods and its inhabitants. Gathering, illustrated anew in vibrantly colored woodcuts, is a celebration of the changing seasons laced with a special reverence for the magic and mystery of winter and the first big snow of the year.

Animal tracks always tell a story. You just have to recognize the signs. As you follow the marks an animal left behind, you get to know it: where it goes, what it likes to eat, when it runs, and why. There are secrets to be learned in those signs in the snow, mysteries to be explored in the mud along the river’s edge.Tracks in the Wild introduces young naturalists to the tracks of bears, wolves, moose, otters, and other wild animals—thirteen in all. Betsy Bowen’s signature woodcut prints accompany poetic passages about each animal, along with life-size representations of their footprints. As it reveals some of the wonders of the natural world, it will also inspire awe and respect for all the wild, elusive creatures that inhabit Minnesota’s northwoods.Winner of a 1994 Minnesota Book Award, Tracks in the Wild is perfect reading for a family to share before and after a trek through their own woods.

In this companion to Gathering: A Northwoods Counting Book Betsy Bowen again captures the vibrant magic in each northwoods day through effortless prose and colorful woodcuts. While the canoe waits beneath the heavy snow and the river freezes over, bears turn in for long winter naps and people spend time reading by the fire or bundled up in layers. But when spring comes, it’s time for kayaking, fishing, and listening to the quiet pond sounds of the new season. All of this and more is celebrated in Bowen’s warm and unusual alphabet book that introduces children to the cyclical rhythms of life in our country’s northern states.