The salmon is not only an important species for ocean food webs but also is a key indicator of the quality of river and shore environments. The effects of human development—dams, pollution, and channeling—all affect its survival. This NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book provides a poetic yet accurate description of the life cycle of this important species for elementary students.
The sense of movement of the Salmon Stream is embedded in the language, words, and illustrations. Whether read to a group or individually, it’s enticing reading. Elementary students will enjoy following the salmon through its migration and reproductive cycle. Additional facts, references, and organizations that study and support conservation are listed.
— NSTA Recommends (June 2010)
From a publisher “dedicated to inspiring in children a deeper understanding and appreciation for all life on Earth,” this is an excellent and engaging book for readers 6 and older. The cumulative verse tale about ocean-migrating salmon is well-suited to a fish with so dramatic a life cycle. From “This is the tiny fish that hatched (and has its dinner still attached,” we travel through danger and growth until, leaping 10-foote falls, the salmon return to spawning grounds and the mythical story begins again. Maydak’s gripping paintings are realistic but add color, compression and activity to match the fast-moving story. An appendix includes information about the salmon cycle and good salmon streams, as well as a column on how kids can help, and North American conservation groups.
— The Tampa Tribune – Julie Empric (April 13, 2003)
Rich in imagery and lively in verse, this book inspires wonder and appreciation for these amazing fish, a species born in mountain streams, living in the ocean, and migrating back to their place of birth to breed and expire. Filled with resources for learning more about salmon, this book teaches children that all life is important, and when we loose a piece of life’s tapestry, all life, including human, is diminished.
— Acorn & Oaks (Acorn Naturalists Newsletter)(Summer 2002)
Our family has had the pleasure of watching salmon in the fall in a river near our home. Watching them return to where they were born is exciting and fascinating. In her book Salmon Stream, Carol Reed-Jones captures the incredible journeys these fish make after they are born, grow into adult salmon and eventually return home to contribute to the life cycle of salmon.
Michael S. Maydak’s illustrations help show children some of the obstacles and dangers salmon face during their lives. Sections on “The Salmon Cycle” and “What Makes a Good Salmon Stream?” provide parents with additional information that can be explained to children. “How You Can Help” offer suggestions about little things that can be done to help salmon.
Salmon Stream won’t make our fish-watching excursions any more fun, but it will provide us with knowledge about these remarkable fish and their changing lives.
— The Explorer – N. Glenn Perrett (May 2003)
Many children have never been exposed to the unique and intriguing life cycle of the salmon. These fish, which start out hatching from eggs, spend their life in the waters and then will spend the latter part of their life working their way back upstream to find their original birthplace to start the lifecycle over again through spawning… soon their eggs will hatch and begin it all over again … One of the fun cycles we find in nature that all children seem to enjoy discovering and understanding.
This book captures the story of their life and lifecycle in a warm and well written manner. Easy read and understand, it also offers much educational information as a child reads through this beautifully illustrated book.
Winner of many awards and you will soon understand why. At the back portion of the book it offers an entire section on salmon facts and what makes a good habitat for them… This teaches children the basics of ecology and why clean streams and waters are so important to maintaining their habitats.
This is a great book to add to a unit study on water life animals and / or salmon themself. There is so much one can explore with these great fish and this book will compliment any study of this nature excellently. It goes in great depth yet in an interesting manner to read, so does not seem like one is learning while they indeed are.
— Education Clearinghouse – www. educationclearinghouse.org (December 2002)
Salmon Stream is truly a pleasure to read, for anyone of any age. The verse is lively and rhythmic, rich in imagery, yet well founded in the scientific cycle of salmon. It engages children in a positive way, showing how they can help make sure our beloved salmon will be with us always.
— Michael Frome, Ph.D. – educator, author and environmental advocate
If you think your car journey to the sea is long, imagine a salmon’s trip. Carol Reed-Jones’s engaging cumulative verse in Salmon Stream tells of just-hatched fish that swim to their “saltwater home” where they live and grow until they travel back, “to reach the place where they were born / bruised from the journey, weary and worn.” Michael Maydak’s full-color illustrations convey the inherent drama of the salmon’s story while conveying much information about the ecosystem and life cycle. Conservation tips and a list of helpful organizations are available in the back.
— Washington Parent – Mary Quattlebaum – July 2001
It’s a jungle out there. Sometimes we forget that we are only one of countless species flying, swimming, tunneling and scurrying on the third rock from the sun. We still have no clear notion just how many creatures are endangered by the negligent stewardship of Homo sapiens, the currently dominant species of mammal. While biologists labor to identify the unknown animals and protect the known, authors and illustrators turn this feast of information into a golden age for children’s non-fiction. Never before have young people had available so many beautiful, fact-filled books about our fellow creatures. There are more good new books about animals than we can possibly do justice to here, so we’ll serve up only the cream of the crop.
. . . Equally beautiful and fact-filled are two new books from Dawn Publications. Salamander Rain, written and illustrated by Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini, examines a neighborhood pond by following fictional children’s studies of it, from lyrical portraits of map turtles to the children’s index-card notes. Salmon Stream, written by Carol Reed-Jones and illustrated by Michael S. Maydak, employs a different narrative style, following salmon (rather than a whole ecosystem) through a season. Both are impressive.
— BookPage.com – Children’s Books – August 2001
Carol Reed-Jones captures the magnificence of the Pacific Salmon’s life history. It should inspire the child in all of us.
— Dr. David Suzuki, of The David Suzuki Foundation, a Canadian science-based environmental organization
Salmon Stream unfolds the secrets of the life cycle of salmon and the multiple threats to their survival while actually building one’s wonder and appreciation for these unique creatures.
— Mitch Friedman, conservation biologist and Executive Director of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Carol Reed-Jones shows the salmon’s life cycle as reciprocal gifts from the forest to the sea and the sea to the forest. I hope every elementary school in North America will use this wonderful book as a tool for teaching children that all life is important, that each time we lose a piece of life’s tapestry, the quality of all life – including ours – unravels.
— Chris Maser, zoologist, ecologist, author and international consultant
. . . Salmon Stream, a discussion of the salmon life cycle as told in cumulative verse by Bellingham author Carol Reed-Jones, and illustrated by Michael S. Maydak.
Reed-Jones does a fine job of exploiting the form to build both suspense and understanding, and she uses wonderul language in the poem. . . .
— The Bookmonger (syndicated column by Barbara Lloyd McMichael
Follow the life cycle of salmon in cumulative verse – verse that builds on itself – a technique that emphasizes the cyclical, connected nature of the subject. Against staggering odds, the eggs hatch and grow, travel to the ocean and eventually struggle upstream to their birthplace, to spawn a new generation. Provides additional kid-friendly resources to learn more about salmon and to help protect their habitat. Ages 6 to 12.
— Arizona Networking News – Editor’s Choice
Through amazing, full-color illustrations and clever prose, Salmon Stream teaches young and old about different types of salmon and their life cycle. With continuing efforts to replenish salmon runs in rivers and streams, this is a great book to familiarize children with the process and spark their imagination. Following the story is a comprehensive description of the salmon cycle, types of salmon and what makes a good salmon stream. Local author Carol Reed-Jones also gives suggestions on how readers can help protect and conserve, as well as a list of organizations to contact for more information. A truly excellent book, this would make a great gift.
— Northwest Family Magazine (November 2001)
This book is a poetic yet accurate description of the life cycle of the salmon. The sense of movement of the “Salmon Stream” is embedded in the language, words, and illustrations. Facts, References, Organizations.
— CBC/NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 – 2002