What else could explain the abiding popularity of the “Little House on the Prairie” series by Laura Ingalls Wilder or many other books that feature frontier life and the Westward movement?

Two new picture books provide an up-close look at those times. As an added draw, they feature a very cool animal – the buffalo, or more accurately, the American bison.

Read them, and then visit Northwest Trek. Baby bison should be showing up in the next few weeks.

“The Buffalo Storm,” by Katherine Applegate, tells the story of Hallie, who leaves her beloved grandmother to join her Papa and pregnant Mama in a covered wagon bound for Oregon.

Hallie and her grandmother share a lot, including a fear of thunderstorms. But Hallie’s not afraid of much else and she and her grandmother both know her place is with her parents.

The grandmother sends Hallie off with a hand-stitched quilt, plus pen and paper and instructions so the girl can describe the wonders of her journey in a letter.

“You’ll see buffalo, child, too many to count. What a gift to hear the earth rumble as they run!”

Applegate’s evocative prose is further brought to life by gorgeous watercolor and pastel artwork by Jan Ormerod, an award-winning author and illustrator of more than 70 children’s books.

Hallie helps her father drive the ox team, hides under her quilt during a crashing Nebraska thunderstorm and has a scary few moments when she tumbles out of the wagon during a river crossing.

The climax and title of the book come after she helps a bison calf get back to its mother after its foot is stuck in a Wyoming sandstone crevasse.

Then she hears rumbling and soon gets to see and hear the miles and miles of bison thundering past. She’s afraid at first, then laughs and feels as if her grandmother were with her.

Once the little family is cozily settled in Oregon, she writes the letter to her grandmother.

There’s a sweet message, insight into pioneer life and enough action to keep youngsters interested.

Applegate also writes the popular “Animorphs” series as K.A. Applegate.

“Buffalo Music,” by Tracey E. Fern, is a fictional picture book based on the true story of a Texan who helped saved the buffalo from extinction.

A pioneer woman named Molly lives on the rim of Palo Duro Canyon, with mostly animals as company. She listens on a regular basis to the same thunder of buffalo that Hallie experiences and develops a special fondness for the lumbering creatures.

Sadly, as the years go by, buffalo hunters thin the herds to precariously low numbers.

One day a cowhand brings Mollie two bison calves he found under a juniper. Molly cares for them, and word gets out. Soon, more cowhands bring her orphaned buffalo. Eventually, she has 100 bison and learns that Yellowstone National Park wants to rebuild its herd.

Boxcars are enlisted, and the rest is history.

Fern tells an inspiring story bolstered by lively illustrations by Lauren Castillo. Kids will love the pictures of the bison calves.

Rebecca Young: 253-597-8742, Ext. 6926 The Buffalo Storm

By Katherine Applegate

Illustrated by Jan Ormerod

Clarion Books, 32 pages,

$16, ages 4 to 8 Buffalo Music

By Tracey E. Fern

Illustrated by Lauren Castillo

Clarion Books, 32 pages,

$16, ages 4 to 8