50 True Tales from Our Great National Parks

Immerse yourself in the wonder and diversity of America’s great outdoors with 50 true stories inspired by some of its most iconic national parks.

This gift treasury collection gathers real-life stories from parks across the USA, including Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Hawaii Volcanoes, Denali, Everglades, and many, many more.

Some tell human tales of triumph, bravery, and feats of endurance and moments of dazzling discovery.

Others are tales of remarkable animals, magnificent plants, outstanding natural features.

Some explore the past, telling how certain parks came to be and their impacts both good and bad, while others recount recent events such as inspiring stories of conservation and nature and communities bouncing back.

Each story is linked to a particular park, telling the tale of an animal or plant, community or individual, or event. These stories grant readers a new way to explore these awe-inspiring places.

Stories include:

• The Amazing Acrobats of Glacier Bay - the humpback whales that perform an incredible ballet-like dance through the chilly waters.
• The Bransfords of Mammoth Cave - the inspiring tale of a Black American family’s dedication and excellence exploring and guiding people through these vast caves in Kentucky.

The perfect accompaniment to bestselling National Parks of the USA, this book is for families and young readers looking to for longer-form, nonfiction stories about America’s great national parks. Altogether, the tales within combine to form a celebration of these awe-inspiring, living landscapes. This book is made to be enjoyed and revisited again and again.

National Parks included:

1. Denali National Park
2. Biscayne National Park
3. Glacier Bay National Park
4. Great Sand Dunes National Park
5. Lassen Volcanic National Park
6. Pinnacles Volcanic National Park
7. Lake Clark National Park
8. Katmai National Park
9. Channel Islands National Park
10. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park
11. Yosemite National Park
12. Redwood National Park
13. Mount Rainier National Park
14. Crater Lake National Park
15. Olympic National Park
16. North Cascades National Park
17. American Samoa National Park
18. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
19. Haleakala National Park
20. Virgin Islands National
21. Glacier National Park
22. Yellowstone National Park
23. Rocky Mountain National Park
24. Grand Teton National Park
25. Great Basin National Park
26. Capitol Reef National Park
27. Bryce Canyon National Park
28. Zion National Park
29. Death Valley National Park
30. White Sands National Park
31. Saguaro National Park
32. Grand Canyon National Park
33. Mesa Verde National Park
34. Petrified Forest National Park
35. Carlsbad Caverns National Park
36. Arches National Park
37. Theodore Roosevelt National Park
38. Wind Cave National Park
39. Badlands National Park
40. Isle Royale National Park
41. Voyageurs National Park
42. Cuyahoga National Park
43. Big Bend National Park
44. Mammoth Cave National Park
45. Great Smoky Mountains National Park
46. Shenandoah National Park
47. Congaree National Park
48. Everglades National Park
49. Dry Tortugas National Park
50. Acadia National Park

Stephanie Pearson is a journalist, a 2023 National Geographic Explorer, and a contributing editor to Outside magazine. She is the author of ＂100 Great American Parks,＂ a beautifully illustrated collection of the nation’s most intriguing landscapes published by National Geographic.

After earning her master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Pearson began her career at Outside, where she was on the editorial staff for more than 13 years. Her assignments over three decades have included reporting from Mount Everest Base Camp, meditating with Tibetan Buddhist Scholar Robert Thurman in Bhutan, and producing an online science curriculum while traveling through Australia and Latin America with National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner and his team.

Pearson has received four Lowell Thomas Awards from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation in the categories of Foreign Travel, Environmental and Sustainable Tourism, Service-Oriented Consumer Work, and Travel Journalist of the Year. Her work has also been anthologized in ＂The Best American Travel Writing＂ series.

Madeline Kloepper is a Canadian artist with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Major in Illustration from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Although she grew up in the lower mainland of British Columbia amidst a sea of humans and spent a few years in Vancouver. Following the completion of her degree in 2015, Madeline migrated northward and has gratefully settled on the unceded territory of the Lheidli T’enneh. She lives happily in a little old house with her partner, Ben and sweet pup, Heidi.

Madeline’s work is inherently narrative and often influenced by childhood, nostalgia and the relationships we forge with nature. Her work has been recognized by Society of Illustrators New York, Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, Creative Quarterly and been featured in 3x3 Magazine, SAD Mag and UPPERCASE magazine.

When she is not exploring the vast outdoors of Northern British Columbia and admiring the trees and mountains you can find her sipping coffee, making pottery and dreaming up narratives in her sketchbook