Page Through The Parks: Grand Canyon!

Page Through The Parks (1)

Our graphic, including one of my views of the Grand Canyon.

I couldn’t be more excited about our August “Page Through The Parks” plans! We now have a Facebook page, so please follow along for live updates.

It’s fitting that we’re beginning our tour in the Grand Canyon, one of the most majestic places on Earth! But before I begin, please make sure you read to the bottom. Giveaways!! If you are a reader, each of us is giving away books on Goodreads. And if you’re a teacher or librarian, we’ve got an amazing Rafflecopter giveaway for you. Please, read on!

When I visited the Grand Canyon a few years back, I was overwhelmed. I had to take a few steps back from the edge (well, if you know me, you know I had to take many steps back.) But oh how beautiful! How unbelievable, that our country has had the foresight to preserve such a treasure!

Liz Garton Scanlon‘s IN THE CANYON brings that landscape to life. I asked her a couple of questions, and here they are with her answers:

What inspired you to write a book about the Canyon? “My agent actually suggested it — she knew that I was (am) a big hiker and backpacker and just general outdoors-lover. What she didn’t know (I don’t think) was that I had hiked the canyon down to the river in my 20s, so when she offered up the idea I happily dove in.”INTHECANYONcover

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Liz Garton Scanlon

What was your favorite moment in writing the book? “My favorite moment in the text of the book is actually ALSO my favorite art spread, and that’s the “Hello, Mr. Red Tailed Hawk” page. I love the conversational nature there, the intimacy of child and natural world, and Ashley’s art on that page just blows me away. I actually have a signed print of that on my studio wall. Lucky me!”

I also asked illustrator Ashley Wolff: While working on the illustrations for IN THE CANYON, how many times did you visit the Grand Canyon to get the landscape you wanted to portray? And here’s her answer:

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Ashley’s boots in the Grand Canyon.

“I hiked into and out of the Grand Canyon once in 1990, took a mule down to Plateau Point in 1998, and then took a special trip in May of 2013 to do the research for In the Canyon. With Liz’s script tucked in my backpack and only a camera phone, my sister and I hiked down the South Kaibab Trail and back up via Bright Angel in one long, hot sweaty day. It’s a 16 mile round trip with a mile of elevation loss/gain on either end. We paused for an hour at Phantom Ranch to resupply our water and salty snacks and get back to the rim after dark. It was quite a day!”

We would love for all of you to have the chance to visit the Grand Canyon and the other Parks. But in case you can’t, we’ve got a long list of books, for readers from young to old, that we hope you’ll check out.

Here are links to Liz’s Goodreads’ giveaway of IN THE CANYON, Barb Rosenstock’s Yosemite picture book THE CAMPING TRIP THAT CHANGED AMERICA, and my YA novel set in Yellowstone, FAITHFUL.

If you are a teacher or librarian, please enter our Rafflecopter giveaway for a lot of really awesome items, including:

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Sequoia patch!

giveaway2a copy of IN THE CANYON, signed by both author and illustrator; a piece of Canyon-inspired art by Ashley Wolff; a beautiful chain-stitch embroidered Sequoia patch; a hardcover copy of THE CAMPING TRIP THAT CHANGED AMERICA signed by Barb; a grow your own Sequoia kit from “Tree in a Box”; a framed 13 x 19 poster of John Muir & giveaway1Theodore Roosevelt Camping in Yosemite; a 500-piece Yosemite jigsaw puzzle; a signed copy of FAITHFUL; a Yellowstone Old Faithful magnet; aYellowstone coffee mug; and to hold all that stuff, a Yellowstone tote bag. Enter now!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

4 Responses to “Page Through The Parks: Grand Canyon!”

  1. Sarah

    As a librarian, I love hearing stories from my students as they explore the US! Our country is so diverse with people and location!

  2. Janet Montgomery

    I live near the Grand Canyon, and can never get enough: the strata, the history, the all-consuming awe of this area. Your illustrator got to see the Canyon from both the south and north ends – most excellent!