t this site I will keep you up on what I am doing. This means where I am travelling and what I am writing. I will also tap in on my illustrators and my composer. Watch out for colors and sound.

 

 

Jean's Newest Book Release!
Jean's latest book, The Cats of Roxville Station ,with illustrations by Tom Pohrt, has been released.

In the fields by Roxville Station, where the wild cats live, there is a hidden world. Alongside wildlife and humans who barely notice them, the cats of Roxville fight for territory, hunt, and are hunted...

 

 

 

Coming Soon...
Jean's latest book, The Last Polar Bear, will be released soon, with paintings by Wendell Minor.

The world is warming, and the ice is melting. Tigluk must save the last polar bear.

January 2009
2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the seminal Newberry Award winning book, My Side of the Mountain. Join Jean in a look back at the book which has touched so many lives. She reflects on the story's conception, and how the book took shape. She may answer some of the questions you have always been curious about in this video taped in December of 2008. How many lives have been touched and changed by this important work?

Note: The upcoming companion book to the 50th Anniversary Edition of "My Side of the Mountain" mentioned by Jean in the video above will be called "Pocket Guide to the Outdoors", and will be realeased in 2009. We'll post more information here when we get it!

November 2008
The Deluxe Edition CD version of One Day in the Woods has just been released and is now available. Here is what's written on the CD jacket:

'Today is a special day in the woods — the beautiful ovenbird is due to return from South America and Rebecca is determined to find and protect it from extinction. Follow her into the forest as she discovers a world where squirrels fly, deer vanish into thin air and reappear, and ducklings leap fifty feet down from holes in trees. Jean Craighead George’s beloved naturalist adventure has been enchantingly adapted for the musical stage by noted composer Chris Kubie. With vibrant performances by Alan Arkin, Patrick Collins, Barbara Dana, Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, and others. One Day in the Woods is a celebration of woodland life for all to enjoy.

Jean Craighead George’s book, Julie of the Wolves won the prestigious Newbery Medal, the American Library Association's award for the most distinguished contribution to literature for children in 1973. My Side of the Mountain, (the story of a boy and a falcon surviving on a mountain together) was a 1960 Newbery Honor Book. She is counted amongst the world’s most lauded authors of books for children and young adults.

Chris Kubie has composed for award-winning films and television specials including “Bobby Kennedy: In His Own Words” for HBO”, “The Peoples Palace: Secrets of the New York Public Library” for PBS, “Radio City Music Hall: The Story Behind the Showcase” for A&E, several television series for The Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel, as well as hundreds of children’s audio books and videos. '

 

March, 2008:
Jean's latest book, Goose and Duck, has just been released. Here's the blurb from the inside book cover:

Whatever I did, Goose did. Whatever Goose did, Duck did. When I sat down, Goose sat down. Duck sat down too.

What's a little boy to do when a goose and a duck think that he's their mother? Especially when they follow him around, doing everything he does!

Newbery Medal winner Jean Craighead George's comic story and Priscilla Lamont's lively art make for a silly tale about boys, geese, ducks, and the rhythms of nature.

November, 2007
Jean's new book, The Wolves Are Back, published by Dutton Children's Books, is a book about the good that wolves do. Anyone can tell "the wolves are back" by looking at Lamar Valley, Yellowstone. The grass has grown. (Grass-eating elk run to the hills away from the wolves). The trees are growing and holding back erosion along the river. (They are not trampled by the buffalo). The birds are back in the meadow. (The grass-and-tree-eaters are in the hills).

When the trees come back so do the beaver, and because the beaver makes ponds, the moose are back, as well as frogs and ducks. Through a wolf pup's adventures the return to the balance of the nature is seen because "The Wolves are Back."

Wendell Minor, illustrator, and Jean Craighead George, author, have returned Yellowstone for many sequential years to see life come back to Lamar Valley. Minor's watercolors of the wolves and valley are extraordinary.

Jean's book, Luck, The Story of a Sandhill Crane, was released in March of 2006 and published by HarperCollins. As these great birds fly north this spring, some going as far as Siberia, the story of Luck, a slightly confused young crane, will appear in bookstores. Luck is an appealing character that memorizes man-made objects, not the landscape, as he flies north. Wendell Minor, the award winning artist, has out-done himself with this book. His art is both beautiful and poignant. A source of his inspiration was a trip to the Platte River in Nebraska with Jean and her family to see 500,000 sandhill cranes come down to eat and rest.

More wonderful news is that Julie of the Wolves is being filmed by Robert and Andy Young Productions Inc. The father and son have filmed wildlife award winners, documentaries on Eskimos and human dramas. They are an independent company who love Julie and her story. This film will be a masterpiece...at last, it is in the hands of the right film makers who will be right out there on the Arctic tundra with Julie and the wolves!

My Side of the Mountain was selected by the New York Librarians as the 2005 book to represent the state at the National Book Festival, sponsored by Laura Bush and the Library of Congress.

 

A DVD about Jean...

If you've ever wondered how best-selling children's author Jean Craighead George works and lives, then join her in this entertaining and educational documentary to find out. You'll see inside her home, look over her shoulder as she writes, listen in as she answers fan mail, and meet her talkative parrot named Tocca. Charlie Craighead wrote, photographed and  directed the Storyteller  film.

Then go on the road with Jean to the locations of My Side of the Mountain and The Summer of the Falcon to hear how those stories began. Follow her to Utah to meet the wolves that will star in a movie about her Newbery Medal winning book Julie of the Wolves. Go with her to Yellowstone Park and to the Platte River as she begins to write new books set in these fascinating places.

Each chapter of this delightful film is punctuated with Jean's comments and insights into how she thinks and works. This documentary was beautifully shot in some of Jean's favorite places, with original music by Chris Kubie.

For more information, to see a preview, or to order a copy of Storyteller from Lunchbox Lessons, click here!