1.99

The journey of a snapping turtle from the Mississippi River in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

I have a special place in my heart for the lovingly-detailed works of Holling C. Holling. I adored Seabird as a child, and was excited to find this book second-hand as an adult. The narrative follows the eponymous Minn as she travels the length of the mighty Mississippi from headwaters to delta. You learn a lot about snapping turtles, life on the river, and the changing face of America at the time of the book's writing in 1951.

Holling's mainline narrative is always a bit less interesting than his fascinating marginalia, but all together this one holds together as a fascinating portrait of the land and its ecology. Minn herself is quite fun and ferocious... I can imagine that a young reader would appreciate this fierce female protagonist. ( )

My daughter enjoyed this book a lot though sometimes it was hard to see why. A snapping turtle makes a 25-year journey downstream the Mississippi. The book gives a tour guide of the geology, geography, history and ecology of the river as well and interesting natural history information about turtles. The text is not the best written -- really heavy on metaphor that my daughter had trouble understanding (during the day a paddle boat is a lady throwing back a silky scarf of smoke, at night, a layer cake.) Also, the turtle is a pretty passive observer of men's history and geology. Nevertheless, I loved the big pages, big old-fashioned illustrations and little diagrams along the margins (how canal locks work, turtle nests, maps). I guess I love the IDEA of this book, but in actual execution it's not as good as you'd hope. ( )

This sixty two year old Newberry Honor book, which was way ahead of its time, is right up my alley. I love Holling Clancy Holling’s “Minn of the Mississippi”. It is an interdisciplinary, imaginative account of a Minnesotan snapping turtle’s adventure down the Mississippi, but it provides a beautifully detailed nonfiction look at the scenery and natural life identified with the famous river. The text can offers an engaging story while giving many interesting facts about the river. I was instantly drawn to the margins where maps, biological diagrams and scenes from the story are beautifully drawn. You could easily use this book in a social studies, science or English class. I just ordered myself a copy from Amazon. ( )