It's Springtime in My Backyard

By Kathy Mazur

It's Springtime In My Backyard is a read-a-loud children's story about a young girl and her relationship with two wild ducks who visit and who nest in her backyard at the first signs of spring. As a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0976107600
• ISBN13: 9780976107606
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: Spring Ducks Books, LLC
• Length: 30 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 10.1" x 11.2"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

It's Springtime in My Backyard

It's Springtime in My Backyard tells the story of the author's young daughter Lauren's encounters with two Mallard ducks whom she calls Molly and Moe. This story combines real photographs of the ducks as they visit the Mazur backyard and become friends with Lauren with drawn illustrations of young Lauren as she narrates the story. This book includes a CD with Lauren reading the story. It's Springtime in My Backyard is an enchanting story that reflects the carefree delights of children and their instinctive connection to nature. I thought the story was well written and wonderfully effective through the use of a realistic child's voice. I also liked the combination of photographs and illustrated work.

Will captivate and entertain young readers while providing them with encouraging insights into backy

It's Springtime In My Backyard featuring photographs by author and illustrator Kathy Mazur is the delightfully informative and educational tale of Molly and "Moe the Mallard". Following Moe and Molly's backyard adventures through their fun and active everyday lives, It's Springtime In My Backyard will captivate and entertain young readers while providing them with encouraging insights into backyard experiences as commonly encountered by children. Enhanced with the inclusion of an accompanying CD of the book (nicely read by seven-year-old Lauren Mazur), It's Springtime In My Backyard is very highly recommended for family, school and community library picturebook collections for its originality, and thoroughly "kid friendly" text.

Recommended!

A wildlife story for young children involves a pair of mallard ducks who visit the author's daughter during nesting season. Lauren, age 7, tells the tale clearly on CD after her mother photographs an interaction that is built on patience and developing trust. My favorites are sequences of Lauren gaining the hen duck Molly's confidence while feeding her. The color contrasts, facial expressions and composition are great. Anyone struggling to preserve precious moments with child OR animal will marvel that Kathy accomplishes BOTH! The watercolors of a child at play and rest add pizzazz; the umbrella and puddle drew a chuckle! The 26-page view of Lauren's relationship with hen, Molly, and drake, Moe, is followed by two pages of Duck Facts; simple vocabulary includes only a few challenges (iridescent is defined, but camouflage and vegetation are not.) Kathy adds 13 bird, animal, plant and flower photos that readers may find in their own neighborhood. Springtime fills a science need in schools wonderfully, especially for urban dwellers who may not be exposed to feathered fowl. A colleague who works with children with vision problems said she "liked that real photos are used, larger type on white background and in the same location!" Words are printed in blue, with green and even larger font size used to emphasize significant words. Springtime lends itself to story-time reading for groups and will appeal to all ages and levels, including adults. I recommend it to educators and librarians as a learning tool and to parents and relatives as a gift to treasure. Armchair Interviews says: This nature book about establishing relationships is one to read again and again, with a CD that allows independent looking and listening.

Preschool & Simple

IT'S SPRINGTIME IN MY BACKYARD By Kathy Mazur is a simple pre-school picture book about a child's relationship with a pair of ducks, Molly and Moe, that return each year in spring to live in her backyard. The photos and childish drawings are by the author, and the child pictured is her own daughter, Lauren. Lauren, now seven, reads the book on the CD that comes with it. This refreshingly simple book teaches about wildlife, trust, and caring

Fun with a lesson

Reviewed by Jennifer Imparato for Reader Views (1/06) This book is an amazing `learn to read book'. It is the story of a child and her interaction with two ducks at the beginning of spring. The story is written in short sentences that children can understand which are accompanied by real photographs and drawings that illustrate what the words are explaining. At the end of the story, there is information about male and female mallards, as well as pictures of other animals and plants that signal the beginning of spring. This book also includes a CD, on which the child the book is written about (Lauren Mazur, age 7) reads the book. I would recommend this book to any parent with a young child. It's not only a fun story for beginning readers, but it's also a lesson about mallards as well. That's like two lessons in one story.