Kelly of Hazel Ridge

Title: Kelly of Hazel Ridge
Author: Robbyn Smith van Frankenhuysen
Illustrator: Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen
Publisher: Sleeping Bear Press
Grade level: k-5
Genre: realistic fiction

Summary: Robbun and Gijsbert bought an hold farm “Hazel Ridge Farm” and later had two daughters. One daughter is Kelly, that’s who is in this book. Kelly gets an assignment from her teacher saying to write a story about someone or something that has been very important in your life. Kelly is frustrated at first because she has no idea what to write. After walking around her farm seeing all the animals that are so natural to her, she realizes how great it is. She thinks back to when her family and her started preserving the farm and planting trees, digging ponds, and making habitats for the animals and she realizes that they aren’t just doing it for themselves their doing it for her, so she can have a place that is as magnificent as their Hazel Ridge Farm. Once the dinner bell rings Kelly and her two big dogs race home. She tells a story of how she use to be scared there was a monster outside her window but her mom went to the widow and “Whooo-hoooo” out the window and Jackson the owl answered, an owl they had rehabilitated. Her mother said that there was no need to be scared because Jackson perches outside her window to protect her. And she was never scared at night again. Kelly places an owl pellet in her nature treasure box and writes in her journal about her adventures.

Response: One of my new favorite books!!!! If you have not read one in this series I beg you to at least pick it up and look at the pictures. I absolutely love this book it is one of three in the series and will be getting the other two just as soon as I can. The pictures in this book I believe are acrylic paint on canvas. They are breathtaking! I don’t know why I especially like the detail in Kelly’s hair. It goes through and tells all sorts of ways and reasons to preserving land and creating habitats for animals were humans are not allowed. It gives an introduction and gives you a background about their farm and how they came to own it, I think this really adds to the story because its real and this makes it more real having the author tell you that Kelly is their actual daughter. Also the last page in the book tells you how to create your very own nature treasure box and things that might go in it.

Teaching Ideas: This book will definitely be in my classroom, regardless of what grade I teach. I think this would be a great book for 3rd graders in a science curriculum. The whole book is about preserving wildlife and different sorts of animals and their habitats. I would allow my students to create a nature treasure box just as Kelly did. Have them go around the playground, a park, their house and just explore nature and find things that interest them. And after about a week everyone bring in their box and see what questions arise out of the artifacts that were brought in. this would also be an outstanding book to read to get the students motivated to maybe take on a wildlife protection project and maybe help create a habitat at a near by lake for birds and reptiles that live their.