Betsy Bowen

Minnesota-based author and illustrator Betsy Bowen profiles thirteen animal species which can be found in her home state, as well as elsewhere in North America, in this engaging work of picture book natural history. Each two-page spread features a different animal—white-footed mouse, ermine, ruffed grouse, pine marten, snowshoe hare, red fox, common raven, river otter, beaver, gray wolf, white-tailed deer, moose, black bear—with a discussion of its characteristics and habits on one page, show more and a detailed woodcut illustrations of it on the other. The book closes with a brief meditation on what the author has learned from different species...

Although I have encountered Betsy Bowen's artwork before in titles written by other people, Tracks in the Wild is the first of her own books that I have read, and I found it very enjoyable. I appreciated the text, which covers not just the basic information about each animal and their tracks, but personal recollections from Bowen herself, about her interaction with that species. The artwork itself was gorgeous—I do love woodcuts!—and captured both the beauty of the animals and the delicate wonder of their footprints. I think this one would work very well as a basic introduction to animal tracks, if concentrating on more northern species, and it is for that purpose that I would recommend it. It would pair very nicely with Jim Arnosky's Wild Tracks!: A Guide to Nature's Footprints, which goes into a little more detail about the animals profiled. show less

Minnesota author and illustrator Betsy Bowen celebrates the seasonal rhythms of life in the northwoods of her home state in this lovely counting book. Starting in May and moving from zero to twelve, she describes how the summer and autumn months are spent in preparation, both practically and spiritually, for the coming winter. Planting, harvesting and putting away crops, fishing on the lake and storing up warm memories of summer fun—these are all ways to prepare...

Published in 1995, show more Gathering: A Northwoods Counting Book is the third of Bowen's own picture books, which she both wrote and illustrated, and is a worthy follow-up to her 1991 debut, Antler, Bear, Canoe: A Northwoods Alphabet Year. I am an admirer of her wonderful woodcut illustrations, which I have enjoyed in her own three books, as well as the books she has illustrated for other authors, and I was not disappointed on that score here! I love the simple yet sophisticated folk-art sensibilities of this artwork, and thought it captured the beauty of the world being described. While not from this part of the world, I have fond memories of my childhood summers spent in northern Michigan, and could appreciate the wonder of the summer activities depicted here. Recommended to anyone looking for more advanced counting books, for picture books depicting life in the Upper Midwest, or for woodcut artwork. show less

Artist and children's author Betsy Bowen chronicles life in the northwoods of Minnesota in this lovely alphabet book, moving through the twelve months of the year as she moves through the letters of the alphabet. From the moose antler and hibernating bear of January through the yarn for knitting and zero-degree temperature of the following December, the activities of each season in this northern climate is explored. Each page features a word corresponding to one of the letters of the show more alphabet, a brief description of that word's significance, and gorgeous woodblock illustrations...

Published in 1991, Antler, Bear, Canoe: A Northwoods Alphabet Year was author/illustrator Betsy Bowen's debut picture book, and what a debut it was! I previously enjoyed her subsequent Tracks in the Wild, which highlights various animal tracks, finding the artwork particularly lovely. Woodcut illustrations are always immensely appealing to me—they have such a folk-art feeling, managing to be both simple and stylish—and Bowen is a skilled practitioner of the medium. In any case, that was certainly the case here, and I appreciated both the charming visuals and the peak into life in northern Minnesota. Recommended to anyone looking for well-designed alphabet books, or picture books featuring the northern woodlands of Minnesota. show less

This book begins with May when it is still cold in the Northwoods and continues through December. It is the story of how summer days in the north are savored and appreciated as the people prepare for winter. Many children have thoughts like these, but more to enjoy summer days in preparation for school days, and so they will relate to the sentence: "Summer is the time . . . to collect lots of warm memories to make it through the long, cold winter." Surely people everywhere there are cold show more winters who can understand such thoughts. show less