Bison: Community Builders and Grassland Caretakers

by Frances Backhouse

Genres: Science Nature, Animals, Childrens

96 pages, Hardcover

Published April 15, 2025

About the author

Frances Backhouse is a veteran freelance journalist who has written for Audubon, New Scientist, Canadian Geographic and numerous other magazines. Her training and experience as a biologist inform her environmental writing, including her books about owls and woodpeckers. Her other three books reflect her ongoing fascination with Klondike gold rush history.

Reviews

[this_eel]

Writing this review far after the fact to give FRANCES and THE BISON the rave they deserve!!!! THIS IS A GREAT BOOK. A BOOK ABOUT BISON, FOR CHILDREN. It's heavily illustrated and features numerous beautiful photos (of Bison) and is an accessible but also in-depth exploration of the bison's ecological, historical, and cultural legacies as well as its status in the present day. Backhouse is careful to include the voices of modern children whose lives intersect with buffaloes--always a pleasant inclusion in nonfiction for elementary-school readers--including indigenous children and their communities. Conservation efforts are covered, as well as the brutality of settlers that nearly plunged them into extinction. The way the landscape depends on them and how it's been shaped by their decimation is also considered. Backhouse has a lively style and the book is well-organized. I read it in advance of publication and although it has clearly not hit the NYT list, it's one of the most satisfying books I read in 2024. Give BISON: COMMUNITY BUILDERS AND GRASSLAND CARETAKERS a CHANCE! You'll be educated, enraged, enriched and charmed. Bison!

[Awjtf]

Wonderful book! So much useful information and lots of photos!

[Martha Meyer]

I am a big bison fan, but I learned a LOT from this book. It was well written and the accompanying photos were awesome, especially of kids who work with bison. The author is Canadian and has already written award winning books in this series: Owls: Who Gives a Hoot? and Grizzly Bears: Guardians of the Wilderness and Beavers: Radical Rodents and Ecosystem Engineers. She covers how critical the bison are to the grassland and forests ecosystems they inhabit and how they make spaces and places for other species to survive and thrive.

Some things I learned: I was unaware of Wood Bison at all, let alone that there are ways to tell the difference between the two kinds of bison. I knew the shameful US history of trying to wipe out all the bison in an effort to hurt Native Americans, but I was unaware of the different people on both sides of the border that stepped up to prevent extinction. I loved the indigenous voices and profiles in this book, too.

[Cheryl]

Not for the youngest or the most squeamish. Tbh, I didn't read it all. But I did skim carefully and learned a lot. For example, I learned that they can jump and run fast for a long time. And I learned that at least some of their caretakers use squeeze chutes (but Temple Grandin is not given credit for inventing them).

I chose it because it's an Orca Wild book. Orca Publishers do a lot of wonderful work and I highly recommend that your family search your library catalog for them by keyword (or ask a librarian for help).

March 2026

[christine]

succinct and scientific intro to bison, probably good for children ?

[Hoover Public Library Kids and Teens]

Learn more about North America's largest land animal, which is also the national mammal of the United States!