Picture Books and The Great American West

For our road trip from Idaho to Minnesota, I picked up a handful of picture books from the library in hopes that they would connect M with some of the places we visited. 

Mountain Dance

Thomas Locker

This one was probably his favorite.  Mostly because it had pictures of hot lava.  Even though we didn't see any lava on our trip, we did talk a lot about the Yellowstone caldera and the volcanic explosions there.  I think now we just have to take him to Hawaii so we can really blow his mind with REAL hot lava!  Field trip!!

I am a huge fan of Thomas Locker's books because I love the illustrations.  So I'd recommend this one even if you aren't headed to the mountains anytime soon.

The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir and our National Parks

Barbara Rosenstock

I had not heard this story before and M found it mildly interesting.  Not as interesting as hot lava, unfortunately, but I liked it!  

Welcome to Yellowstone National Park

Teri Temple

I didn't read this with him on our drive, but I overheard Papa reading it to M before we left on our trip.  It's not a picture book, and was probably too long/advanced for him, but it sounded like it had a lot of interesting information.

Yonder
 Tony Johnston

We borrowed this one, but never had a chance to actually read it together. I want to try it again with him here at home.

Hello, Yellowstone!

At Yellowstone, we bought this board book and really like it.  It's cute and goes through all of the places we visited, as well as others that we didn't get to see (this time).  This was a great souvenir from the trip.

Has anyone read Hello, America?  Please share your recommendations for other kids books about the National Parks - we'd love to plan another trip for next summer!