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Children's books by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Children's books by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Yours 'Til Niagara Falls Yours 'Til Niagara Falls

Written By: Brenda Z. Guiberson
Illustrated By: William Low

ISBN: 9781627790994
Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Millions of years ago, Niagara Falls was not a waterfall. Back then, ocean covered the land.

Eighteen thousand years ago, all that water was locked up in ice.

Then 12,500 years ago, the ice melted! It gushed into lakes that flowed into a river that plunged over a steep cliff. Crash! Roar! Sploosh!

That was the noisy beginning of one of the world’s most majestic waterfalls. Experience the incredible history of this misty, mystical cascade of water, told from the perspective of Niagara Falls itself.


Awards and Accolades

"The story begins millions of years ago, when the site that would become Niagara Falls was beneath an ocean. By 18,000 years ago, woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats roamed the glaciers there, but 12,500 years ago, melting ice had created lakes, rivers, and the waterfalls. People who used stone tools came to hunt nearby. By 500 years ago, erosion had gradually moved the falls upriver. More people came: in 1678, Father Hennepin wrote about the falls, and in the 1800s, sightseers visited in droves. Charles Blondin crossed the river on a tightrope, and at night, people escaping slavery were ferried across to Canada. After completing the historical account, Guiberson looks toward the landmark’s future. Written from the falls’ proud point of view, the informative text offers a new topic on each double-page spread, yet the account flows smoothly, and the details are well chosen for the audience. Low’s well-composed, beautifully colored illustrations, created using ink, crayon, and digital media, show the grandeur of Niagara Falls from different viewpoints. An enjoyable resource for young researchers and armchair travelers." - Carolyn Phelan / Booklist

"Niagara Falls itself serves as the narrator of this lengthy anthropologic and geologic history of the celebrated cataract. The falls' first-person account takes readers from its ocean beginnings millions of years ago to its present-day status as a world-famous tourist attraction. Depicted by Guiberson as both observer and participant, Niagara "cascaded, rumbled, roared, and tumbled," "was a waterfall on the Underground Railroad," and "became a waterfall of holidays and carnivals." Low's painterly aerial and close-up views convey the mist-shrouded landmark's grandeur, as archival photo renderings, b&w artifact sketches, and images of the cliffs' erosion over time overlay sweeping scenes. Unspecified "humans with stone tools," an explorer, daredevils, freedom-seeking enslaved people, industrialists, and tourists are all portrayed in the extensive chronology." - Publishers Weekly