From the woodlands of the forest, we turn now to the prairie and steppe regions of the world. North and South American prairies and the Asian and Australian steppes are grassland habitats that, unlike the savanna, undergo greater changes in season and temperature: hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Also called temperate grasslands, these habitats have evolved over thousands of years to withstand wind, storms, torrential rainfall, fire, and grazing by large animals. Animals found in prairies and steppe habitats include bison, prairie dogs, koalas, kangaroos, emu, and armadillos.
Join Read City USA and our Million Hour Challenge as we visit the prairie and steppe! This book list highlights the habitat, the animals that live there, and the people who encounter them.
Juvenile
- Big Red Kangaroo by Claire Saxby (Juvenile Nonfiction)
- Braver: A Wombat's Tale by Suzanne Selfors and Walker Ranson (Juvenile Fiction)
- Don't Call Me a Bear! by Aaron Blabey (Easy-Picture Book)
- Emu by Grace Henson (Juvenile Nonfiction)
- Grandfather Buffalo by Jim Aronsky (Easy-Picture Book)
- Out on the Prairie by Donna M. Bateman (Easy-Picture Book)
- Prairie Chicken Little by Jackie Mims Hopkins (Easy-Picture Book)
- Quokka by Grace Hansen (Juvenile Nonfiction)
- Super Marsupials: Kangaroos, Koalas, Wombats, and More by Katharine Kenah (Juvenile Nonfiction)
- We Need Prairie Dogs by June Smalls (Juvenile Nonfiction)
Teen
- Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson
- Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser
- Wings of War by John Wilson
Adult Fiction
- My Antonia by Willa Cather
- The Thundering Herd by Zane Grey
- Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
- Caroline: Little House, Revisited by Sarah Miller
- The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout
- The Tiger Queens by Stephanie Thornton
Adult Nonfiction
- On the Trail of Genghis Khan by Tim Cope
- The Buffalo Book: The Full Saga of the American Animal by David Dary
- The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan
- The Prairie Keepers: Secrets of the Grasslands by Marcy Cottrell Houle
- The Field Guide to Fields: Hidden Treasures of Meadows, Prairies, and Pastures by Bill Laws
- Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart
- The Secret History of the Mongol Queens by J. McIver Weatherford
- Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography by Laura Ingalls Wilder