What do you think?
Rate this book
Minn of the Mississippi
The history of the Mississippi River Valley is told in text and pictures through the adventures of Minn, a snapping turtle, as she travels downstream.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
102 people are currently reading
1188 people want to read
About the author
Holling Clancy Holling
24 books77 followersBorn in Jackson County, Michigan, in 1900, Holling Clancy Holling graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1923. He then worked in a taxidermy department of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and spent time working in anthropology under Dr. Ralph Linton.
During this period, he married Lucille Webster, and within a year of their marriage accepted a position as art instructor on the first University World Cruise, sponsored by New York University. For many years, Holling C. Holling dedicated much of his time and interest to making books for children. Much of the material he used was known to him first hand, and his wife, Lucille, worked with him on many of the illustrations.
Sometimes listed as Holling C. Holling
During this period, he married Lucille Webster, and within a year of their marriage accepted a position as art instructor on the first University World Cruise, sponsored by New York University. For many years, Holling C. Holling dedicated much of his time and interest to making books for children. Much of the material he used was known to him first hand, and his wife, Lucille, worked with him on many of the illustrations.
Sometimes listed as Holling C. Holling
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
November 21, 2008
This is the book I most look forward to reading with my future children. It’s about a turtle’s journey down the Mississippi from its’ start in Minnesota and all the way down to the Gulf. The art in this book is also gorgeous. Even if you never have children, never want children, hate children, I don’t care. You need to read this book.
June 3, 2009
I brought a copy via Ebay from the Holderness Library in Holderness NH printed in 1951
I know this is a "childrens" book, but not only did I learne to love read from this book, but also developed a love for reptiles from this book including a love for snapping turtles both on and off the New Orleans dinning table where its served.
The pictures and etchings and maps are amazing and its suprisingly deep for a "childrens" book about the adventures of a one leg snapping turtle (Minn) escaping to the freedom of the gulf of Mexico!
It was an amazing return trip to my past. Even "adults" will get a kick out of this book, It tells the history of the Mississippi including those that live/lived along side it
I know this is a "childrens" book, but not only did I learne to love read from this book, but also developed a love for reptiles from this book including a love for snapping turtles both on and off the New Orleans dinning table where its served.
The pictures and etchings and maps are amazing and its suprisingly deep for a "childrens" book about the adventures of a one leg snapping turtle (Minn) escaping to the freedom of the gulf of Mexico!
It was an amazing return trip to my past. Even "adults" will get a kick out of this book, It tells the history of the Mississippi including those that live/lived along side it
March 19, 2016
08/09: Actually, I skimmed this one. I wanted to love this. We adored "Paddle-To-The-Sea." But, there was just so much information (great information, granted) that it was hard to follow Minn's story. I'd love to read Minn's story and then slowly study the additional geographical and historical information. Mais, but I did like that she ended up in a lovely Louisiana swamp. THAT is a happy ending. ;-)
January 14, 2024
Minn of the Mississippi by Holling Clancy Holling (1951; 1979 ed.), over-sized paperback, 86 pages. Newbery Honor Award.
READING LEVEL 5.6 AR POINTS: 3.0 (5th grade & up)
I thought last year was going to be my last year in search of good reading material for my grandkids. None of them really like to read any more. I guess reading books has gone out of style. 😞
The story of the Mississippi River is told through the eyes of Minn, the three legged turtle, who was born up north near Little Elk Lake, in Minnesota, one of the many little lakes that start and empty into the Mississippi River. The author did a lot of research to make the facts and events of a turtle’s life, as well as facts about the Mississippi River, as historically correct as possible.
But, this book can appear very intimidating, especially for 5th graders. It’s an oversized book with lots of words per page. I would say it is more for your advanced readers. It has colorful artsy pictures, but some pages have only basic black and white sketches around the margins, giving even more facts in the details of a turtles life and facts about indigenous lives of natives, along with even more facts about the Mississippi River. I didn’t read all the margin notes. It was overwhelming even for me, and I’m 59 years old.
Unfortunately, this is not a fun read at all. The writing literally does not flow very well even though it is a Newbery Honor Book. The turtle talks, and the make believe characters talk, mostly in amateurish dialogue that seems irrelevant to the story, and sometimes in incomprehensible dialect, and then suddenly it seems the author, himself, is thinking and talking. And in between the make believe story, it was just fact after fact. I call all this scatter-brained writing. He should have either kept to the story of Minn’s adventure down the Mississippi River, or stuck to writing a children’s history book on the Mississippi River.
I gave two stars simply for the fact that I did learn a couple interesting facts about snapping turtles:
1. In winter (where winters are freezing), they bury themselves under the muddy waters and literally stop breathing until springtime. They then swim to the surface and take their first breath of spring air.
2. They will also bury themselves in mud, leaving just their beaks out, and wiggling their tongue like a worm, when hunting food. Usually, fish will swim right into their mouths.
On page 66, it told a little about the New Madrid, Missouri, earthquake of 1811-1812 (which I have never heard of before):
The Mississippi River ran backwards, then came back in a rush of water twelve feet tall. New Madrid sank 15 feet. Aftershocks were felt for the following two years afterwards. For me, there’s a desire to know more.
I found a couple of books about this earthquake to look into for future reading.
READING LEVEL 5.6 AR POINTS: 3.0 (5th grade & up)
I thought last year was going to be my last year in search of good reading material for my grandkids. None of them really like to read any more. I guess reading books has gone out of style. 😞
The story of the Mississippi River is told through the eyes of Minn, the three legged turtle, who was born up north near Little Elk Lake, in Minnesota, one of the many little lakes that start and empty into the Mississippi River. The author did a lot of research to make the facts and events of a turtle’s life, as well as facts about the Mississippi River, as historically correct as possible.
But, this book can appear very intimidating, especially for 5th graders. It’s an oversized book with lots of words per page. I would say it is more for your advanced readers. It has colorful artsy pictures, but some pages have only basic black and white sketches around the margins, giving even more facts in the details of a turtles life and facts about indigenous lives of natives, along with even more facts about the Mississippi River. I didn’t read all the margin notes. It was overwhelming even for me, and I’m 59 years old.
Unfortunately, this is not a fun read at all. The writing literally does not flow very well even though it is a Newbery Honor Book. The turtle talks, and the make believe characters talk, mostly in amateurish dialogue that seems irrelevant to the story, and sometimes in incomprehensible dialect, and then suddenly it seems the author, himself, is thinking and talking. And in between the make believe story, it was just fact after fact. I call all this scatter-brained writing. He should have either kept to the story of Minn’s adventure down the Mississippi River, or stuck to writing a children’s history book on the Mississippi River.
I gave two stars simply for the fact that I did learn a couple interesting facts about snapping turtles:
1. In winter (where winters are freezing), they bury themselves under the muddy waters and literally stop breathing until springtime. They then swim to the surface and take their first breath of spring air.
2. They will also bury themselves in mud, leaving just their beaks out, and wiggling their tongue like a worm, when hunting food. Usually, fish will swim right into their mouths.
On page 66, it told a little about the New Madrid, Missouri, earthquake of 1811-1812 (which I have never heard of before):
The Mississippi River ran backwards, then came back in a rush of water twelve feet tall. New Madrid sank 15 feet. Aftershocks were felt for the following two years afterwards. For me, there’s a desire to know more.
I found a couple of books about this earthquake to look into for future reading.
September 28, 2018
This was our geography read-aloud for our first term. Every Holling C. Holling book I say is my new favorite. They’re all superb. This one follows Minn, a snapping turtle on his journey down the Mississippi River. It covers the life cycle of turtles, geology, history and much geography. We used this along with a big map to follow Minn as he traveled. Everyone loved this one. Read it to ages 4-13.
December 15, 2023
I think this is the third time I’ve read this book aloud? It hasn’t aged as well as some of Holling C. Holling’s other books, but it occupies a special place for us since we live near the Mississippi and have been many of the places lettered in on the maps. As with all Holling’s books - sometimes the story gets a bit dense, but the illustrations are what make the book truly special and fun to read together.
October 8, 2012
New writers are given basic advice to “write what you know.” This was key to Holling Clancy Holling’s career as a writer, illustrator and naturalist. He was first an inquisitive child growing up in rural Michigan and, second, one who learned skills at the hands of his family, relatives, co-workers and Native-American friends. The insights we gain by reading Minn of the Mississippi, Paddle-to-the-Sea and Seabird could only have come from a person who had hands-on knowledge of his environment and 19th century crafts, geography through personal exploration, and trial-and-error skills learned by canoeing and survival camping.
We’re fortunate that Hazel Gibb Hinman spent days interviewing Holling and his wife Lucille in 1957 for her Master’s thesis at the University of Redlands in California. She isolated Holling’s experiences and directly correlated them to his published work. For example, growing up in Michigan, Holling told Hinman, his father Bennett Clancy would point to a rock or boulder, asking, “Do you see the scratches on it? Do you suppose those scratches had anything to do with the glacial period?” Then, Papa Bennett would explain how the glaciers formed, packed the ice and snow, then pushed out and cut into the mountains. “How fast did the glaciers go?” Holling quoted his father. “Well, slowly,” showing with his hands the few inches the glaciers would travel in a year.
As Minn, a snapping turtle, grew to a two-year-old, Holling wrote [p.28, Minn of the Missippi, Houghton Mifflin Company], “Glaciers had spread clay, gravel, and big stones across this northland. Minn found rivers running on boulder beds. She might dig in clay, sand or muck. But she found boulders beneath her. She entered cuts in solid granite and sea-laid stone, ground out by swirling water with gravel and sand.” Papa Bennett’s lessons had been well learned.
Holling worked on board the large ships plying the Great Lakes. Over the years he also became an experienced canoer and wilderness trekker. His familiarity with waterways large and small got him through many scrapes, and they supported his writing in Minn of the Mississippi, Pagoo and Paddle-to-the-Sea. He writes in Minn [p.34], “The next spring she found the River raging. It could cut down bluffs and rebuild them again as islands. Some islands held trees scarred by ice and logs heaved out at them by floods. Floods left trees with their trunks clay-coated ten feet up; drying in neat, level lines of whitewash. Floods left brush in ghostly branches like nests of giant birds.”
Traveling cross-country by trailer in 1937, Holling and his wife Lucille told Hinman, they stopped by the Ohio Mound Builders. Information and sketches concerning the remains, Hinman states, was worked into Minn’s adventures as well [p. 46]. “The ancient Mound Builders, gone for centuries, might not be real to Minn — but now they caused her no end of trouble. In hastily digging out her nest…she kicked up obsidian arrowheads, bits of clay pottery, a carved-stone pipe…. For such treasures any museum director might have given Minn a private pool, fresh meat for a lifetime, unlimited rest and quiet.”
Camping in at Landa Park between Austin and San Antonio allowed Holling to explore New Braunfels, including a section of the Mississippi, a huge spring and a lake. This, too, was added to Minn’s expedition as she neared the end of her journey. A visit to friends in Houma, La., also had afforded the Hollings a guided tour through the bayous.
In 1926, a year after Holling and Lucille Webster were married, they served on an around-the world cruise as artists, teaching passengers as they sailed through the Caribbean en route to Asia. In Panama City, he sketched and explored, writing in the shipboard publication about an underwater treasure chest spilling its contents. This image showed up, writing in 1951, as Minn lived “on a glittering heap — of what? Rich jewels, once more, were merely stones; and one of earth’s heaviest elements — melted neatly into golden wafers of equal weight — was returned once again to the care of earth and water. For Minn, her doorstep of so-called treasure was only a hardness, like water-worn pebbles.” [p. 84]
How does a writer experience an underwater world in the late 1930s before snorkel tubes and scuba tanks? Holling, Hinman, reports, secured some goggles and five feet of garden hose to do his explorations. This was Holling’s “fish-eye view” that he translated into Minn’s world.
Holling was acquisitive in his knowledge and adept at working it later into story line and marginal illustrations. It might be said that Holling’s books reflect a lifetime of learning that has been shared by generations of young readers.
# # #
Sidebar:
Hazel Gibb Hinman’s thesis, The Lives and Works of Holling Clancy Holling, is available at Google Books. A museum devoted to Holling is located in his hometown of Leslie, Mich., and now has copies of every book Holling wrote in addition to some personal items and examples of his commercial art. Walt Giersbach also maintains a Web site devoted to Holling, at http://hollingcholling.blogspot.com/.
We’re fortunate that Hazel Gibb Hinman spent days interviewing Holling and his wife Lucille in 1957 for her Master’s thesis at the University of Redlands in California. She isolated Holling’s experiences and directly correlated them to his published work. For example, growing up in Michigan, Holling told Hinman, his father Bennett Clancy would point to a rock or boulder, asking, “Do you see the scratches on it? Do you suppose those scratches had anything to do with the glacial period?” Then, Papa Bennett would explain how the glaciers formed, packed the ice and snow, then pushed out and cut into the mountains. “How fast did the glaciers go?” Holling quoted his father. “Well, slowly,” showing with his hands the few inches the glaciers would travel in a year.
As Minn, a snapping turtle, grew to a two-year-old, Holling wrote [p.28, Minn of the Missippi, Houghton Mifflin Company], “Glaciers had spread clay, gravel, and big stones across this northland. Minn found rivers running on boulder beds. She might dig in clay, sand or muck. But she found boulders beneath her. She entered cuts in solid granite and sea-laid stone, ground out by swirling water with gravel and sand.” Papa Bennett’s lessons had been well learned.
Holling worked on board the large ships plying the Great Lakes. Over the years he also became an experienced canoer and wilderness trekker. His familiarity with waterways large and small got him through many scrapes, and they supported his writing in Minn of the Mississippi, Pagoo and Paddle-to-the-Sea. He writes in Minn [p.34], “The next spring she found the River raging. It could cut down bluffs and rebuild them again as islands. Some islands held trees scarred by ice and logs heaved out at them by floods. Floods left trees with their trunks clay-coated ten feet up; drying in neat, level lines of whitewash. Floods left brush in ghostly branches like nests of giant birds.”
Traveling cross-country by trailer in 1937, Holling and his wife Lucille told Hinman, they stopped by the Ohio Mound Builders. Information and sketches concerning the remains, Hinman states, was worked into Minn’s adventures as well [p. 46]. “The ancient Mound Builders, gone for centuries, might not be real to Minn — but now they caused her no end of trouble. In hastily digging out her nest…she kicked up obsidian arrowheads, bits of clay pottery, a carved-stone pipe…. For such treasures any museum director might have given Minn a private pool, fresh meat for a lifetime, unlimited rest and quiet.”
Camping in at Landa Park between Austin and San Antonio allowed Holling to explore New Braunfels, including a section of the Mississippi, a huge spring and a lake. This, too, was added to Minn’s expedition as she neared the end of her journey. A visit to friends in Houma, La., also had afforded the Hollings a guided tour through the bayous.
In 1926, a year after Holling and Lucille Webster were married, they served on an around-the world cruise as artists, teaching passengers as they sailed through the Caribbean en route to Asia. In Panama City, he sketched and explored, writing in the shipboard publication about an underwater treasure chest spilling its contents. This image showed up, writing in 1951, as Minn lived “on a glittering heap — of what? Rich jewels, once more, were merely stones; and one of earth’s heaviest elements — melted neatly into golden wafers of equal weight — was returned once again to the care of earth and water. For Minn, her doorstep of so-called treasure was only a hardness, like water-worn pebbles.” [p. 84]
How does a writer experience an underwater world in the late 1930s before snorkel tubes and scuba tanks? Holling, Hinman, reports, secured some goggles and five feet of garden hose to do his explorations. This was Holling’s “fish-eye view” that he translated into Minn’s world.
Holling was acquisitive in his knowledge and adept at working it later into story line and marginal illustrations. It might be said that Holling’s books reflect a lifetime of learning that has been shared by generations of young readers.
# # #
Sidebar:
Hazel Gibb Hinman’s thesis, The Lives and Works of Holling Clancy Holling, is available at Google Books. A museum devoted to Holling is located in his hometown of Leslie, Mich., and now has copies of every book Holling wrote in addition to some personal items and examples of his commercial art. Walt Giersbach also maintains a Web site devoted to Holling, at http://hollingcholling.blogspot.com/.
May 23, 2024
2024: Third time through for me. My son says, “This is basically just a story of a turtle going down a river and telling us what he saw.” He enjoyed the black and white sketches in the margins and gives it 4 stars.
May 5, 2023
I will forever and always love Holling C. Hollings books. It's a sad end of an era finishing this with my daughter.
November 26, 2023
I think I enjoyed this book more than others because I’ve either lived on or near the Mississippi from it’s origin to St. Louis. I recognized or had been to many of the very places mentioned in the Upper Mississippi.I did not mind the story line that may irk other readers. I feel like Minn was a friend by the end. I really enjoyed all the nonfiction illustrations and captions in the margins. The reader will learn geography and history along with a silly story of Minn the three legged turtle.
May 23, 2025
My son and I loved this book - the geography, the history, the drama of the natural world… all of it. I’ve read other reviews that say it’s too much text or a disjointed story, but I think what helps in this case is taking it slow. Doing one chapter a week let each section stand on its own and give our minds time to “get a feel” for the several threads of learning that chapter was weaving. With this slow and easy reading approach, the book wove a rich tapestry of the Mississippi.
July 27, 2016
We tried to read this book together, but as with Paddle-to-the-Sea, we just didn't get very far. It's too wordy and the reader really needs time to examine all of the magnificent illustrations and annotations along the way to truly appreciate the tale.
We adopted a common snapping turtle late last summer and she was a fun pet, at least until she grew to be a bit scary to handle. We brought her to a local nature center and they were glad to have another (relatively) calm snapper that they could bring to school and library presentations. We miss her, but are glad that she is in the care of folks who know her needs better than we do.
So this tale brought back good memories of Snappy. At some point, the nature center may release her to their ponds, and this story makes me wonder if she would ever choose to wander.
The narrative of this book is quite long and perhaps a bit boring in detail. I know that I dozed off several times. Still, it's incredibly informative and I learned a lot about the mighty Mississippi River as well as about snapping turtles. It's certainly worth spending some time with this book.
interesting quotes:
"'Yes,' said the man-who-knew, 'turtles do seem foolish. But they have kept alive on this jumpy planet for a long, long time - at least some one hundred seventy-five million years! As one of them might say, 'We turtles saw the great dinosaurs come - and also go. And what are you, who call yourself Humans? You haven't yet learned the simple rule - KILL ONLY FOR REAL NEED! You're a new experiment. My children's children will see how the experiment turns out - ten million years from now!'" (p. 22)
"Yep, 'twas 1811 that changed things. Plenty! Some folks up at Pittsburgh had whanged out an iron kettle, all crawling with pipes; wrestled it into a boat; set a fire under it. A sane man would've bet that fool boat would blow to thunder! Yet she could spank herself upstream! And she traveled Ohio and Mississippi, out-whooping loudest Injuns and keel-men! Oak-tough pole-men sure hated like poison to admit that horny hands, leather lungs, rawhide sinews were beat by hatfuls of wispy STEAM!" (p. 66)
"I do not need th' treasure buried in God's banks of sand an' mud. That is maybe the great satisfaction. With gold in town banks - does one handle the gold? No. One has the paper money instead. So, Grand-Pere he say we Cajuns have the same as buried treasure; stars for diamonds, an' nobody gets killed for them; gold of the shrimp an' the crab from rich waters, the silver of shining fish. Isn't that enough treasure - for us to dig it, any time? For us, that is enough..." (p. 86)
We adopted a common snapping turtle late last summer and she was a fun pet, at least until she grew to be a bit scary to handle. We brought her to a local nature center and they were glad to have another (relatively) calm snapper that they could bring to school and library presentations. We miss her, but are glad that she is in the care of folks who know her needs better than we do.
So this tale brought back good memories of Snappy. At some point, the nature center may release her to their ponds, and this story makes me wonder if she would ever choose to wander.
The narrative of this book is quite long and perhaps a bit boring in detail. I know that I dozed off several times. Still, it's incredibly informative and I learned a lot about the mighty Mississippi River as well as about snapping turtles. It's certainly worth spending some time with this book.
interesting quotes:
"'Yes,' said the man-who-knew, 'turtles do seem foolish. But they have kept alive on this jumpy planet for a long, long time - at least some one hundred seventy-five million years! As one of them might say, 'We turtles saw the great dinosaurs come - and also go. And what are you, who call yourself Humans? You haven't yet learned the simple rule - KILL ONLY FOR REAL NEED! You're a new experiment. My children's children will see how the experiment turns out - ten million years from now!'" (p. 22)
"Yep, 'twas 1811 that changed things. Plenty! Some folks up at Pittsburgh had whanged out an iron kettle, all crawling with pipes; wrestled it into a boat; set a fire under it. A sane man would've bet that fool boat would blow to thunder! Yet she could spank herself upstream! And she traveled Ohio and Mississippi, out-whooping loudest Injuns and keel-men! Oak-tough pole-men sure hated like poison to admit that horny hands, leather lungs, rawhide sinews were beat by hatfuls of wispy STEAM!" (p. 66)
"I do not need th' treasure buried in God's banks of sand an' mud. That is maybe the great satisfaction. With gold in town banks - does one handle the gold? No. One has the paper money instead. So, Grand-Pere he say we Cajuns have the same as buried treasure; stars for diamonds, an' nobody gets killed for them; gold of the shrimp an' the crab from rich waters, the silver of shining fish. Isn't that enough treasure - for us to dig it, any time? For us, that is enough..." (p. 86)
June 3, 2013
I'm not sure why, but this childhood favorite of mine just popped into my head today. My librarian mother first read this book to me, and I reread it many times, along with Paddle to the Sea, another great children's book by Holling C. Holling.
Somehow Minn of the Mississippi had managed to slip into a memory hole, despite it being one of my all-time favorites as a child. The Mississippi has always fascinated me, as have snapping turtles, and this book must be a big part of the reason why. It tells the story of a snapping turtle that hatches in the headwaters and then journeys down this greatest of rivers. Thinking of Minn of the Mississippi today gave me occasion to look it up on the Web and, like most things, there it is on the Internet with all its drawings and maps and sketches. I even revisited Minn's picture of the New Madrid earthquake, the same picture that so intrigued me as a child. Since then I've spent most of my life in states bordering the Mississippi. I've crossed it hundreds of times. I even visited its source when I was a wee lad and still have strange, vague memories of what might be its headwaters in Lake Itasca. Rediscovering my remembrances of Minn of the Mississippi today is a welcome gift.
Perhaps I thought of the book today in response to my daughter telling me a story yesterday of how she helped a snapping turtle off the train tracks next to our house. The title suddenly popped into my head this evening as I was following the discussion thread after Steve's review of Of Mice and Men about kids and reading. My mother read it to me, but of the thousands of books I read to my own children, I never thought of this book, never looked for it in our public library, never saw it on the shelf in a bookstore. And now they're far too old. Ah well, and even so, I think the next time I'm at the library I will look to see if they have a copy on the shelf.
Somehow Minn of the Mississippi had managed to slip into a memory hole, despite it being one of my all-time favorites as a child. The Mississippi has always fascinated me, as have snapping turtles, and this book must be a big part of the reason why. It tells the story of a snapping turtle that hatches in the headwaters and then journeys down this greatest of rivers. Thinking of Minn of the Mississippi today gave me occasion to look it up on the Web and, like most things, there it is on the Internet with all its drawings and maps and sketches. I even revisited Minn's picture of the New Madrid earthquake, the same picture that so intrigued me as a child. Since then I've spent most of my life in states bordering the Mississippi. I've crossed it hundreds of times. I even visited its source when I was a wee lad and still have strange, vague memories of what might be its headwaters in Lake Itasca. Rediscovering my remembrances of Minn of the Mississippi today is a welcome gift.
Perhaps I thought of the book today in response to my daughter telling me a story yesterday of how she helped a snapping turtle off the train tracks next to our house. The title suddenly popped into my head this evening as I was following the discussion thread after Steve's review of Of Mice and Men about kids and reading. My mother read it to me, but of the thousands of books I read to my own children, I never thought of this book, never looked for it in our public library, never saw it on the shelf in a bookstore. And now they're far too old. Ah well, and even so, I think the next time I'm at the library I will look to see if they have a copy on the shelf.
October 14, 2008
I cannot praise Holling Clancy Holling enough. As the lone first-grader in a one-room country schoolhouse, (the last generation to attend there) I discovered this enormous, lavish picture-and-text book in the two shelves that were our library, and hurried daily to finish my lessons so I could sit in that alcove with that huge miraculous book on my knees, poring over it in absolute wonder. "Minn" was truly a multi-media experience before the term came into being; each chapter opening with a spectacular action painting, sidebar 'mini-stories' accompanying detailed black-and-white illustrations; and an epic story that was light-years from my stupefying primers.
A baby snapper hatches, and is thrown immediately into a death-struggle with a predator! She escapes, but at the price of a leg. Sumptuous turtle's-eye views guide the reader as 3-legged hatchling Minn is swept along the Mighty Mississippi, encountering, among other perils, the Johnstown flood and fisherfolk who think turtles are mighty fine eatin', ... to moss-encrusted adulthood in the Gulf of Mexico, her triumphant golden reptilian eye gleaming out at the reader amid a wealth of sunken pirate plunder.
I ask you, how could "With Jack and Janet" hold a candle to that?
While of Holling's books are constructed on this model, the heroic journey (with the possible exception of "the Book of the Cowboys," which is more of a travelogue with historical asides) "Minn of the Mississippi" is his undisputable masterwork, a biography with an unlikely heroine, an adventure, a history lesson, and those wonderful, wonderful paintings.
A baby snapper hatches, and is thrown immediately into a death-struggle with a predator! She escapes, but at the price of a leg. Sumptuous turtle's-eye views guide the reader as 3-legged hatchling Minn is swept along the Mighty Mississippi, encountering, among other perils, the Johnstown flood and fisherfolk who think turtles are mighty fine eatin', ... to moss-encrusted adulthood in the Gulf of Mexico, her triumphant golden reptilian eye gleaming out at the reader amid a wealth of sunken pirate plunder.
I ask you, how could "With Jack and Janet" hold a candle to that?
While of Holling's books are constructed on this model, the heroic journey (with the possible exception of "the Book of the Cowboys," which is more of a travelogue with historical asides) "Minn of the Mississippi" is his undisputable masterwork, a biography with an unlikely heroine, an adventure, a history lesson, and those wonderful, wonderful paintings.
May 8, 2016
The first book that I remember reading was "Pagoo" by Holling Clancy Holling. It was a story about a Hermit Crab. I absolutely loved it. I never saw anything else by Holling when I was growing up and only found out he'd written other stuff as an adult. On a whim, I ordered Minn of the Mississippi because it seemed along the same lines as Pagoo, although this is the story of a snapping turtle. Minn is born at one end of the Mississippi, and through a series of adventures ends up at the other end. Along the way, she passes among the debris of history at the bottom of the great river.
This is basically a children's story, but not for really young children. It has extensive sketches on many of the pages, as well as full-size illustrations, and among the sketches are some neat maps. The story here is not as compelling as that of Pagoo, although keep in mind the time difference in my first reading of these two stories. The tale is charming, though, and Holling really has some nice poetry in his prose: "Now spearheads of ducks and long-necked geese flashed by; and a mile up in the clear blue, a ghostly, shimmering ribbon of wild what swans."
The beautiful language about nature, and the clear reverence that Holling has for nature and for history, make this a delightful read.
This is basically a children's story, but not for really young children. It has extensive sketches on many of the pages, as well as full-size illustrations, and among the sketches are some neat maps. The story here is not as compelling as that of Pagoo, although keep in mind the time difference in my first reading of these two stories. The tale is charming, though, and Holling really has some nice poetry in his prose: "Now spearheads of ducks and long-necked geese flashed by; and a mile up in the clear blue, a ghostly, shimmering ribbon of wild what swans."
The beautiful language about nature, and the clear reverence that Holling has for nature and for history, make this a delightful read.
May 11, 2023
My oldest is very sad that this is the last Holling book we’ll read. I really enjoyed this book. But I think because this was the geography I knew the most about, I wasn’t as intrigued. The art and stories were still beautiful and I love the last; to find treasure where you are, not where you want them to be. I felt like praying for the boy at the end, I will for those in situations like his.
January 15, 2015
Holling has a way of writing stories that stay with you for years. I wish I knew where my copy of this went!
February 12, 2021
The kids didn't like this one as much as they liked "Paddle-to-the-Sea." I liked it less the second time through than I did the first, but I still appreciated the regional history.
May 6, 2024
Finished this with AO Year 4 and we thoroughly enjoyed this gentle and engaging look at a turtle and his trek through the Mississippi River.
November 9, 2022
This book was fabulous fun for us. We read it pretty slowly, but then we were able to pick up on so much and really dive in to the details. Of course, turning our last vacation into an epic Upper Mississippi road trip and reading many other books on the topic helped bring Minn’s journey alive in special way. The details in the book lead for such an educational read that constantly touched on other things we were learning. Minn the turtle was a great way to keep it all connected. We can’t wait to finish our own journey and travel the lower Mississippi River soon!
January 4, 2020
Minn is a common snapping turtle hatched near the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The book follows her adventures as she spends years going down the river to New Orleans.
In actuality, the book goes through the history, geology and more of the Mississippi River. The sketches filling the margins of the book are detailed and take careful reading. The illustrations pertain to the story.
This is an easy to read book, but not a fast read, if the reader takes time to read and digest all the side material. It is a fascinating book.
In actuality, the book goes through the history, geology and more of the Mississippi River. The sketches filling the margins of the book are detailed and take careful reading. The illustrations pertain to the story.
This is an easy to read book, but not a fast read, if the reader takes time to read and digest all the side material. It is a fascinating book.
November 18, 2020
So boring. Not nearly as charming or well-paced as Paddle to the Sea! My kids are losing interest since it is way more about the turtle than the river journey. Far too much detail, far too slow, and too many off topic tangents. Hollis is trying to do to much “educating” with one story and the story plot suffers.
July 19, 2024
This simple story of a snapping turtle traveling down the Mississippi River is packed with living ideas-- history, geography, and nature. This is a book you need to read slowly and really take your time with to get the most out of it. I found the language a bit challenging to read aloud.
April 10, 2024
We really enjoyed this trip down the Mississippi with three legged, Minn.
Some of the language was a little hard to read aloud, and follow, but overall an enjoyable read!
Some of the language was a little hard to read aloud, and follow, but overall an enjoyable read!
April 14, 2025
Worked through slowly as a read-aloud for the kids using Beautiful Feet Books geography curriculum.
April 13, 2021
I wasn’t wild about this book, the illustrations and the idea of the story are amazing! It’s just very wordy and long
June 11, 2019
The author was trying really hard to talk about the Mississippi River in a fun story format by following the adventures of a little 3-legged turtle named Minn.
There were some parts that I genuinely liked, but for the most part the book just dragged on and on. It's super short and it took me ages to read. The illustrations were pretty, but I didn't like all the small illustrations on the border, it was too busy. I felt like I needed to read/look at all the info and I didn't want too.
My favorite part was when Minn was walking on museum, because of all the ancient artifacts below her feet. I thought that was beautifully stated.
There were some parts that I genuinely liked, but for the most part the book just dragged on and on. It's super short and it took me ages to read. The illustrations were pretty, but I didn't like all the small illustrations on the border, it was too busy. I felt like I needed to read/look at all the info and I didn't want too.
My favorite part was when Minn was walking on museum, because of all the ancient artifacts below her feet. I thought that was beautifully stated.
March 21, 2022
I agree with everything other 5 star reviews have said. We had this book when our kids were little and I think I liked it and learned from it even more than them. We just ordered it for our grandchildren who are now getting to that age. My one regret is ordering the paperback edition. The hardback, which we had before, is much easier because you will want to spend a long time on each page...Just checked out the prices and I need to add "if you can afford it." If not you will love the paperback.
June 26, 2020
Dear Friends,
I got this book after my cat died to cheer me up. However, I found that it is not a good book for an 87 year old woman such as myself. It's to hard to read! I recommend don't read this book. I thank goodreads for their open time for my opinion.
Sincerely,
Mildred
I got this book after my cat died to cheer me up. However, I found that it is not a good book for an 87 year old woman such as myself. It's to hard to read! I recommend don't read this book. I thank goodreads for their open time for my opinion.
Sincerely,
Mildred
February 23, 2009
Good, but I don't think it's a match for Paddle to the Sea by the same author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews