West Coast Wild Rainforest

Ages 3 to 7, Grades P to 2

Step into the majestic rainforest of the Pacific west coast and discover a unique community of creatures thriving in an interconnected web of life.Towering over the sea, along the magnificent Pacific west coast, is an ancient and beautiful rainforest with a unique ecosystem that is linked in many ways. In this fourth book in the West Coast Wild series, you will find trees as tall as twenty-storey buildings, tiny seedlings sprouting on nursery logs and brightly colored salmon spawning in streams. The salmon, as a keystone species, connect the ocean to the forest and provide a rich source of food for the bears, wolves, eagles and other creatures that live in this pristine wilderness. The remains of the fish add vital nutrients to the forest, feeding the lush green plants and trees. In turn, the thick vegetation shades the streams and protects the baby salmon that hatch and swim to the sea.Author Deborah Hodge provides a clear and engaging look at the interdependence of the forest species and the fascinating cycles of nature in this rare ecosystem, while Karen Reczuch’s lavish watercolors show the rainforest teeming with life in shades of green that can only come from receiving more than ten feet of rain a year. Key Text Featuresillustrationsauthor’s notefurther informationfurther readingfacts Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.3With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.7With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the text in which they appear (e.g., what person, place, thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.3Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.4Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text.

About the Author

DEBORAH HODGE is the author of more than thirty books for children. Her awards include the Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada's Information Book Award, the Green Prize for Sustainable Literature and the honor book distinction for the National Jewish Book Award for Children's Literature. Her work has also appeared on such lists as ALA's Top Ten Best Environmental Books for Youth. Deborah is a former teacher and curriculum writer who lives in Vancouver, BC.KAREN RECZUCH has illustrated many award-winning children's books. Loon by Susan Vande Griek won the TD Norma Fleck Award for Canadian Children's Non-fiction, the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Picture Book Award and the Children's Literature Roundtables of Canada's Information Book Award. Karen's other books include West Coast Wild, also the winner of the Information Book Award, and West Coast Wild Babies, both by Deborah Hodge. Karen lives in Lake Country, BC.