Rating: 
Summary: A fun floating adventure for all ages
Review: A neat story for kids and family readers -- and good PR for paddling too! Great little maps in the original color version. This book is well known to avid paddlers, and will be enjoyed by all that love the outdoors and new adventures. [Safety Note: Please wear an approved PFD at all times, boat-niks!] Jeff at ARKATENTS
Rating:
Summary: A classic wedding of well crafted pictures and fitting text
Review: A rare and delightful blend of text and picture. Evokes a surprisingly strong sence of adventure and suspense. I won the book as a child in Michigan and am surprised how fresh the memories of it are. In a world that has technically evolved to the point it has, this book remains fresh and stimulating. A great gift for a grandchild exploring the adventure of picture and text. A solid 10.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best children's books ever!
Review: Although this book is quite old, I had never read it before. What a wonderful book I've missed out on! This is a timeless book that encompasses a great story, history, geography, and the good will of people. There were a few lines that made me a bit uncomfortable that referred to Indians, but they really did seem to blend well with the story, and by the end of the book I had a deep appreciation for them. It's quite complicated, short chapter book with some very advanced vocabulary that would be hard for younger children. I think young kids would like it because of the great story. Older kids would like it because of the huge amount of geography involved, and they could really get into looking at all the maps and follow the path the canoe takes on the way to the ocean. I also think kids in the upper Midwest would learn a lot about their area and maybe a little bit about the Indians who have been in this area for a lot longer than any of us. I really liked the way the author incorporated the different ports the canoe came upon and mentioned things about the town. For example, Duluth was described as "a city on a hill" with iron ore as its export. There were also really nice parts about the wildlife, the storms, and the general scenery that the canoe encounters. Besides the wonderful story, the drawings and illustrations are exceptional. There are illustrations of the route that the canoe took along with an arrow pointing where paddle-to-the-sea is now. There are illustrations showing a sawmill, a canal lock, a breeches buoy, and a lake freighter. I believe this book would be great to study as a class by bringing out the history of the great lakes region, the history of Native Americans in the region, geography of the great lakes region, and the biology of the region.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best children's books ever!
Review: Although this book is quite old, I had never read it before. What a wonderful book I've missed out on! This is a timeless book that encompasses a great story, history, geography, and the good will of people. There were a few lines that made me a bit uncomfortable that referred to Indians, but they really did seem to blend well with the story, and by the end of the book I had a deep appreciation for them. It's quite complicated, short chapter book with some very advanced vocabulary that would be hard for younger children. I think young kids would like it because of the great story. Older kids would like it because of the huge amount of geography involved, and they could really get into looking at all the maps and follow the path the canoe takes on the way to the ocean. I also think kids in the upper Midwest would learn a lot about their area and maybe a little bit about the Indians who have been in this area for a lot longer than any of us. I really liked the way the author incorporated the different ports the canoe came upon and mentioned things about the town. For example, Duluth was described as "a city on a hill" with iron ore as its export. There were also really nice parts about the wildlife, the storms, and the general scenery that the canoe encounters. Besides the wonderful story, the drawings and illustrations are exceptional. There are illustrations of the route that the canoe took along with an arrow pointing where paddle-to-the-sea is now. There are illustrations showing a sawmill, a canal lock, a breeches buoy, and a lake freighter. I believe this book would be great to study as a class by bringing out the history of the great lakes region, the history of Native Americans in the region, geography of the great lakes region, and the biology of the region.
Rating:
Summary: Still Wonderful, 30 years later.
Review: As a young boy, I read this thrilling and moving saga of the hopes and dreams of a young boy, carried out through his carving of a small canoe. 30 years later, I read it again to my nieces and nephews, and it touched me the same. What a wonderful tale.
Rating:
Summary: So far I really like the book.
Review: As I said I really like the book because it looks really fun and darring also very exiting.
Rating:
Summary: Paddle to the Sea offers sea dreams to the landlocked.
Review: For myself and my land-locked students in Denver, Colorado, Paddle to the Sea has become a yearly journey of seagoing delight. I have used this book with my students for many years. It has become for me an annual ritual that I happily anticipate. Holling's text and illustrations present the emotionally satisfying story of a child's vicarious journey through the Great Lakes and on to the sea. Readers identify with this little boy's "paddle person," a carved Indian boy in a canoe, as he maneuvers through sawmills, locks, fires, frozen lakes, and high seas. I heartily recommend this book as do all of my students over the years.
Rating:
Summary: A classic book
Review: I first came across this book while looking through my father's collection of childhood books, and started reading it because he recommended it so enthusiastically. I've read it many times since -- some books are richer the more you return to them -- and even now, I think of Lake Superior as a wolf's head and Lake Huron as a fur trapper. When, as an adult, a business trip took me to Detroit (my first time in the Great Lakes region), I drove eight hours at night after my meetings to see Sault Ste. Marie, because my impressions of "The Soo" were so vivid from having read Paddle-to-the-Sea twenty years before. This is a terrific book that stays with you.
Rating:
Summary: I think this a very good book.
Review: I gave this book a ten because it teaches about the Great Lakes. This book is about a boy with a dream to have a canoe travel to the sea. Mr. Holling wrote other books like Seabird and Tree in the Trail.
Rating:
Summary: A work of art for children ... and grownups who love them
Review: I grew up in Oregon. My grandmother, who lived in Alaska and Oregon, gave me a copy of this book when I was about 8, many decades ago. I have never forgotten it and have been delighted to find another copy of late. An Indian boy, landlocked in central Canada, carves of wood a small Indian man in a canoe, and places him on a snowy hillside, with a message on the bottom of his canoe identifying him as "Paddle-To-The-Sea" and pleading with anyone who finds him to put him back in the water so he can complete his long journey -- a journey the boy cannot make himself. At the spring thaw, the wooden canoe slides down the mountain and into streams, ponds, and eventually the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River. Paddle encounters boats, animals, ships' locks, a forest fire, a sawmill, and many other threats and adventures. Many pairs of hands discover and help him along his mighty journey. One even repaints him after a year or more of bad weathering. Each chapter-page of the book has a facing full-page painting in rich colors, as well as small marginal illustrations. The book is a great adventure story, but it's also an effective geography lesson for folks who don't live in or know that part of the country. Like someone else wrote, I will never forget that Lake Superior is shaped like a wolf's head and Lake Huron like a fur trapper with a pack on his back. (Can't remember which lake is the carrot and which the piece of coal, though!) This is a beautiful, classic book for older children, which should remain in print for generations to come. I can't wait until my niece is old enough to be ready for a copy.
|
