The Grand Canyon Reader

Presents an anthology of stories, essays, and poems that looks at the Grand Canyon.

This superb anthology brings together some of the most powerful and compelling writing about the Grand Canyon—stories, essays, and poems written across five centuries by people inhabiting, surviving, and attempting to understand what one explorer called the "Great Unknown." The Grand Canyon Reader includes traditional stories from native tribes, reports by explorers, journals by early tourists, and contemporary essays and stories by such beloved writers as John McPhee, Ann Zwinger, Edward Abbey, Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez, Linda Hogan, and Craig Childs. Lively tales written by unschooled river runners, unabashedly popular fiction, and memoirs stand alongside finely crafted literary works to represent full range of human experience in this wild, daunting, and inspiring landscape.

Rivers wind through earth, cutting down and eroding the soil for millions of years, creating a cavity in the ground 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and more than a mile deep known as the Grand Canyon. Home to an astonishing variety of plants and animals that have lived and evolved within its walls for millennia, the Grand Canyon is much more than just a hole in the ground. Follow a father and daughter as they make their way through the cavernous wonder, discovering life both present and past. Weave in and out of time as perfectly placed die cuts show you that a fossil today was a creature much long ago, perhaps in a completely different environment. Complete with a spectacular double gatefold, an intricate map and extensive back matter.

Describes the river, including ruins, small wildlife, and the experiences of early travelers

Photographs made in Grand Canyon a century ago may provide us with a sense of history; photographs made today from the same vantage points give us a more precise picture of change in this seemingly timeless place. Between 1889 and 1890, Robert Brewster Stanton made photographs every one to two miles through the river corridor for the purpose of planning a water-level railroad route; he produced the largest collection of photographs of the Colorado River at one point in time. Robert Webb, a USGS hydrologist conducting research on debris flows in the Canyon, obtained the photographs, and from 1989 to 1995, he replicated all 445 of the views captured by Stanton, matching as closely as possible the original camera positions and lighting conditions. Grand Canyon, a Century of Change assembles the most dramatic of these paired photographs to demonstrate both the persistence of nature and the presence of humanity. The level of detail obtained from the photographs represent one of the most extensive long-term monitoring efforts ever conducted in a national park and the most detailed documentation effort ever performed using repeat photography. Much more than simply a picture book, Grand Canyon, a Century of Change is an environmental history of the river corridor, a fascinating book that clearly shows the impact of human influence on Grand Canyon and warns us that the Canyon's future is very much in our hands.

The majesty of the Grand Canyon is celebrated from the Colorado River as it continues to carve America's natural wonder from a mile below the rim. As one of the Wonders of the World and the most iconic national park in America, the Grand Canyon enthralls six million visitors each year. Only a small fraction of those people, however, have the privilege of experiencing the canyon by rafting down the Colorado River. The Grand Canyon captures and evokes the power of that journey from the drama of the rapids and the immeasurable scale of the canyon walls to the subtle rock patterns and varied life forms. What started as an exceptional opportunity for Tom Blagden to raft through The Canyon in 2006 with Rod Nash at the oars has evolved into a passionate photographic pursuit that still continues. The route--the River--is the same every time but the experience constantly variable and deeply profound. Rafters never tire of it and, if anything, feel more in awe of the Canyon's magnificence with each trip. Tom Blagden's images and Rod Nash's essay reveal the canyon from a different perspective portraying what it's like to be on the river and immersed a mile deep, surrounded by rock almost half the age of the earth. On the centennial of Grand Canyon National Park it seems only fitting that we journey together to this unique place through the pages of this astonishing book. The book weaves a wondrous adventure that will bring readers along on a journey while raising questions about the significance of a national park and an iconic American river and how to sustain them for generations to follow.

"There's the Grand Canyon as seen from one of the rims. Spectacular. Awe-inspiring. Dramatic. And there's the Grand Canyon below the rims, a very different place steeped in wilderness, bus-sized boulders, tumbling streams, knee-shredding switchbacks, solitude, and the cataract-punctuated Colorado River. The trails in Grand Canyon National Park attract more than 80,000 permitted overnight backpackers annually, as well as an untold number of day hikers and mule riders. Join author Seth Muller on a grand adventure, searching for the Grand Canyon's soul along miles of canyon trails. Muller profiles rangers, artists, volunteers, hikers, ultra-marathoners, mule skinners, and others who regularly experience the inner canyon, presenting the Corridor Trails in intimate, creative prose that will carry the reader into the depths of the canyon and back out again"--P. 4 of cover.

Grand Canyon National Park, located in Arizona, is known for its unbelievable canyon views and the Colorado River that flows through it. Readers will learn about when it officially became a national park, who was involved, the park's climate, and plants and animals that are commonly found there. Complete with simple text, beautiful photographs, and an activities list for readers. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo Kids Jumbo is an imprint of Abdo Kids, a division of ABDO.