Today we’re doing a round up of our favorite Bison Books! We’ll be sharing a couple books we love based on brilliant narratives and gorgeous illustrations, as well as throwing a few in for the younger siblings (these books also have excellent photographs that would help the older children to have a reference for nature journaling). We hope your children enjoy them too!
Before we begin, one word of caution. People interchangeably use bison/buffalo in some of these books. However, the animals are not the same! The book American Bison (below) talks about the differences and why people use the two terms interchangeably. Fascinating! The books we included that have incorrectly used the term buffalo are so full of rich, important historical context about these animals that we wanted to include them knowing you could have a quick conversation about the terms with your children.
PS. If you’re not currently at the library, be sure to Pin this for later!
The Buffalo Are Back
Author: Jean Craighead George
Genre: Non-Fiction (Narrative)
Age: 5+
This is a fascinating story of the decline of the American Bison, along with the successful conservation efforts beginning in the 1900s. It relates the sad but true story of the reasons behind the decline of the species, as well as the nature heroes who helped save the species from exhaustion, The historical perspective given in this book is wonderful, and it’s definitely at the top of my recommendation list for Buffalo!
The gift of the Great buffalo
Author: Carole Lindstrom
Genre: Historical Fiction
Age: 5+
This is a gorgeous book with a wonderful story depicting the Native Americans views on the American Bison. One word of caution is that the spiritual beliefs of the Native Americans are intertwined throughout the book, so wait to read this until you’re comfortable discussing these religious themes with your children. However, it beautifully depicts the Native Americans view on nature and animals, and for this reason I’d recommend it!
American Bison
Author: Ruth Berman
Genre: Non-Fiction
Age: 8+
This was more of a factual read than a living book, in my opinion, but the facts covered in the book were great for older students wanting to learn more about these amazing creatures! This book speaks directly to the topic of how the terms bison and buffalo came to be interchangable, so I’d definitely check it out as a resource!
AMAzing animals: Bison
Author: Valerie Bodden
Genre: Non-Fiction
Age: 2+
This book is also more fact based than a living book, but it has amazing pictures of bison. I love to have real animal pictures (rather than illustrations) for my daughter to reference as she draws in her nature journal, and this series is perfect for that!
Bison
Author: Quinn M. Arnold
Genre: Non-Fiction
Age: 2+
Y’all – this unfortunately is another book I’d not classify as a living book, but the pictures are wonderful and the text is short enough to include toddlers in a quick vocabulary lesson. You know we love our toddlers around here!
That’s a wrap! If you have another favorite Bison book, we’d love to know about it in the comments below! Next week we’ll be introducing our favorite Butterfly books, and I’m so, so excited! It’s a wonderful list!
This site does not use affiliate links, and I do not earn commissions from product links; recommendations are for informational purposes only. Cover images via Amazon.