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MaryM
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| Posted: April 22 2010 at 11:16am | IP Logged
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So, I've been coming across all kinds of great picture books on John James Audubon recently. Some are older classics that I know have been mentioned in the past. So I've been planning to start this thread so we could collect the resources and books on him here. His birthday is in a few days (April 26) so figured it would be a good time to do it. As I'm looking for links I find out that this one is the 225th anniversary of his birth and in Henderson, KY they are celebrating the bicentennial of him coming there with his new bride, Lucy to study birds of the Ohio River. All of which might be why there are some new books out on him this year.
Lots of activities and exhibits around the country commemorating the 225th birthday.
James J. Audubon Life Timeline
The Boy Who Drew Birds is the one often mentioned here in the past.
Melinda recently suggested this one - Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier which is a wonderful book.
More later. Gotta run...
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Mary M. in Denver
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 22 2010 at 5:51pm | IP Logged
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Hey, we just started a study of Mr. Audubon. How timely are we ?????  I'll be updating as we go ...
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MaryG
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 22 2010 at 6:25pm | IP Logged
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We're studying Mr. Audubon a little right now. I love the resources you listed, Mary!
We really enjoy the older back issues of Cobblestone magazine. Their April 1980 issue was about John Audubon. There are some very interesting articles in there. Particularly inspiring was an article about a 13 yo student helper who traveled with Mr. Audubon. We really liked the map of Audubon's travels through America from 1803 - 1851. There is a teacher's guide that accompanies this issue. I don't use the teacher's guide exactly as written, but it did spark some interesting conversations after my dd read the articles in the history magazine.
On the Frontier with Mr. Audubon by Barbara Brenner.
Audubon and His Sons by Amy Hogeboom. OOP
Audubon by Constance Rourke. OOP
Websites to check out:
History and short video of John Audubon in Henderson, Kentucky - fair warning...the song on the video is a little...um...cheesy  but my kids loved it and my 5 yo still sings it!
And, do stop by John James Audubon's Birds of America where you can see the beautiful full color plates of the birds Mr. Audubon drew. This site makes a great addition to a study of the states because there is a grouping of state birds. And...my older son thought it was so intriguing to look at the sketches of various figures of certain birds - these contain sketches of digestive tracts mostly, but some heads, some ears. Interesting addition to a study of zoology and birds. I found this site very interesting.
There are a few Audubon coloring pages at Enchanted Learning.
That's all I've assembled for now. We introduced Mr. Audubon, but we find him very fascinating and are eager to read more.
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 22 2010 at 6:32pm | IP Logged
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Oh and don't forget that National Gallery of Art has a GREAT video on Audubon (that we should get next week from them) ....click on "education" and then request the video from them.
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MaryG
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MaryM
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| Posted: April 24 2010 at 10:29am | IP Logged
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Mary G wrote:
| Hey, we just started a study of Mr. Audubon. How timely are we ????? |
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It's because you are always on the cutting edge, Mary! Looking forward to seeing what you all do.
We had recently requested this one from ILL, but haven't had a chance to start reading it yet.
Our current read aloud is this brand new one, A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole. It's a shorter chapter book with really beautiful double page spread black and white illustrations. It's been pretty good so far. It's a fictionalized story covering a time in 1821 when Audubon stayed at Oakley Plantation near New Orleans to paint. He was accompanied by his teenage assistant, Joseph Mason. This story is told from the point of view of a house mouse befriended by the young assistant. As a warning for those who don't like a PC environmentalist outlook, this mouse maneuvers to show Aububon and the assistant that they don't have to kill birds to paint them. Common practice for ornithologists at that time and in general was to kill the birds and paint/draw them stuffed. Aububon apparently would shoot the birds then wire them immediately and paint while they were still "fresh." So just a heads up on that POV.
There is another lovely picture book out there. Into the Woods: John James Audubon Lives his Dream. With the writing-illustrating team of Robert Burleigh and Wendell Minor how can you go wrong. I love the illustrations. They are a combination of Minor's illustrations of Audubon in the wild and of reprints of actual Audubon paintings of the birds described. It has a short intro text on each page followed by a quote from Audubon's works/diaries. So you get a sense of him and his dreams and perspective. It is well done.
And the Catholic Treasure Chest of Fact & Fun has a comic strip of John James Audubon.
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SeaStar
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Wow- this is so great! Anyone come up with a source for nice Audubon prints? Somewhere I remember seeing a postcard set for sale... but, of course, the source is gone from my brain...
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 27 2010 at 11:19am | IP Logged
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We've sort of spun off onto a bird study and if anyone else is like us (ok, we're weird but SOMEONE must be like us! ) ... you have got to watch the David Attenborough series Life of Birds ... it is amazing. Also, Winged Migration gives such a great overview of birds and how they don't stay in one place ....
Enjoy
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Mackfam
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| Posted: April 27 2010 at 9:33pm | IP Logged
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SeaStar wrote:
| Wow- this is so great! Anyone come up with a source for nice Audubon prints? Somewhere I remember seeing a postcard set for sale... but, of course, the source is gone from my brain... |
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I haven't found a postcard source, but we're enjoying the lovely full color prints in Audubon by Constance Rourke. This is a wonderful book!! Makes a FANTASTIC read aloud! I know it's out of print, but it can be found fairly easily for not much, so it's possible you might find this at a used source. Not sure if libraries would have this book. Mine doesn't, of course. It was originally published in 1936.
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Jen Mackintosh
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Topic: John J. Audubon - 225th birthday - 4/26
