Who's Been Here?: A Tale in Tracks

by Fran Hodgkins

In this fun-filled and informative book, we take a winter walk with a rambunctious golden retriever Willy. Of course he leaves his paw prints in the snow. But there are other tracks, too, and none of them matches his. One by one, we find out what animals they belong a cat, a gull, a raccoon, a snowshoe hare, a bear, a moose, and-uh oh!-a skunk!

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Nature, Nonfiction, Childrens, Storytime, Science

Hardcover

First published September 5, 2008

About the author

Fran Hodgkins always loved nature and science, and loved writing as well, so it seemed only logical that she would grow up to write about science and nature for children. Her first book, The Orphan Seal, received the Henry Bergh Children's Book Award from the ASPCA. Her book How People Learned to Fly is an exemplar in the Common Core ELA standards.

Fran has written more than 20 books for young readers. Her most recent, The Secret Galaxy, came out in October 2014 from Tilbury House Publishers.

Fran lives in Midcoast Maine.

Reviews

[Mandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book following a dog & his peeps guessing paw prints in the snow 😊❄️

[Jolynne Dougherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love being able to throw a non-fiction book in with my storytimes and this is a great one. It's the story of a dog and his people who go out in the snow. They see tracks from other animals and make a guess at who might be making those prints.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the end I was sad that the dog got sprayed by the skunk. And I liked that it was a mystery for us cause we had to find the footprints and it was really fun.

[GS Dachslove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kids loved guessing the tracks in story time

[Tasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take a walk through a wintry setting and find out what three children and their dog discover has been there before them. Each illustration is framed with branches (as you can see on the cover too) and outside that frame readers will see the tracks close up. Animals range from cats to turkeys to bears! It is an exciting walk in the woods indeed.

The illustrations are charming in their rustic style framed by the woodsy branches. The book is a winning combination of information and guessing game. It will work well for units on animals and their tracks. Plus it will be equally at home in story times about the winter. Appropriate for ages 3-6.

[The Library Lady · Rating 2 out of 5]

This had great potential for a story hour. But the pictures are too blurry and having the footprints as page frames, rather than a bold single illustration on a page makes it unusable with younger kids and I'm not sure if it will even work with a preschool group.

As a lap book it will work fine. But even there, I'd rather have seen a different design--it would have been a lot more compelling.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

The potential of this story existed, but the choice of words did not make the storyline flow. I did like the use of the tracks flowing over the page so one could guess the animal that had been there. There are better winter stories with the animal track theme than this one. Sorry, but I didn't care for it.

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book set in wintertime follows the trail of a golden retriever named Willy as he explores in the snow, finding animals tracks on each page. Children can guess from hints/illustrations what type of animal created the tracks. Fun!

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of this book is fantastic, basic tracking skills, but the illustrations were kind of..well...blah.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute book showing what animals make the different looking tracks in the snow. My daughter had fun trying to guess what animals made the tracks.

[Tina B · Rating 3 out of 5]

"winter, animal tracks, dogs, skunk spray"

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this book set in winter time. It works great for listeners to guess what animals tracks they might be seeing on the next page, if they look carefully at the clues in the illustrations.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take a winter trek through the woods and try to figure out which animals have been roaming in the snow!

Great for preschool storytime.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a perfect choice for a winter animals storytime at the library last week. Like how the text gives clues as to which animal may have made the tracks.

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like children’s books about tracks — science/nature mixed with a puzzle/guessing game mixed with spatial intelligence. This one has a slightly weird vibe though that kinda made me laugh. The dog looks ... concerned a lot. And then by the end — spoilers, I guess (but not really, come on) — is sprayed by a skunk and locked outside. The three children look at him with a sort of grim guilt. They are not going to let him in, even though there are inches of snow outside. He looks on with despair. His family has abandoned him.