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Once Upon Alaska, A Kid's Photo Book
Celebrate Alaska, A land so grand and wide and far...Mark Kelley and Nick Jans are at it again, and this time for the kid in all of us! With beautiful photography and rhyming verse that makes you smile, Mark and Nick express their deep passion for Alaska in a kid book that deserves a place on your coffee table. •A Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold Recipient •A Foreword’s 2013 Book of the Year Award Finalist •Honorable Mention - The Eric Hoffer Book Award •Photography Annual 55 Winner – Book Category
56 pages, Hardcover
First published December 15, 2013
289 people want to read
About the author
Mark Kelley
40 books5 followersAward-winning Alaskan photographer Mark Kelley has built his entire career around the place he calls home-Alaska. Mark has been photographing the places and faces of his state for the past forty years. A true Alaskan ambassador, Mark knows when to be where for Alaska to reveal itself in the next photograph. Mark’s images have been reproduced as art prints and in books and calendars, collected by locals and visitors as important reminders of this great place of awe and wonder.
Mark has worked on assignment for UNESCO and Jaeger-LeCoultre, National Geographic Adventure Magazine, Outside, Alaska Magazine, the New York Times, Washington Post, Boy’s Life and USA Today. His images have appeared in National Wildlife, Sunset, National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic World, Alaska Magazine, Outside, Alaska Airlines, Time For Kids, Sierra, Runner’s World, Travel & Leisure, Boy’s Life, USA, and the Washington Post, among others. Mark Kelley’s images have appeared on the covers of more than two hundred publications.
Mark has published twelve photo books with over a quarter million copies sold. Mark’s latest book “Once Upon Alaska”, is a Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold Recipient and a Foreword’s 2013 Book of the Year Finalist. Mark’s books “Glacier Bay National Park: Alaska”, “Alaska’s Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glaciers”, and “Alaska: A Photographic Excursion” were awarded a Benjamin Franklin Award by The Independent Book Publishers Association in 2001, 2006, and 2008, respectively. Mark Kelley produces two annual calendars, with over 200,000 calendars sold to date, as well as note cards, postcards, bookmarks, and individually signed prints.
Mark Kelley is a silver winner in the Graphis Photography Annual 2015 Contest and a winner in the 72nd Annual Picture of the Year International Competition, Natural History Category-Reportage Division. He is a North American Nature Photography Association Showcase winner and a recipient of the Daniel Housberg Wilderness Image Award for Excellence in Still Photography from the Alaska Conservation Foundation. Mark placed first in the 2013 Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice Photography Awards—Outdoor Adventure Category and his winning image is now part of the Smithsonian’s permanent collection. In 2014 and 2013 Mark received an “Award of Excellence” from Communications Arts, the leading trade journal for visual communications. Mark’s work in journalism has been recognized by the Alaska Press Club, the National Press Photographers Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists.
“As a kid in Buffalo, New York, I always wondered what it would be like to encounter a whale,” says Mark, “I moved north and in 1978 graduated from the University of Alaska with a journalism degree.” Mark worked as a photojournalist for the Juneau Empire, Juneau’s only daily newspaper, for over thirteen years before leaving to pursue a full-time career in freelance photography and publishing in 1993.
Mark has lived in Alaska for more than 40 years. He resides in Juneau where he and his wife, Jan, raised their two sons, Gabe and Owen.
Mark has worked on assignment for UNESCO and Jaeger-LeCoultre, National Geographic Adventure Magazine, Outside, Alaska Magazine, the New York Times, Washington Post, Boy’s Life and USA Today. His images have appeared in National Wildlife, Sunset, National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler, National Geographic World, Alaska Magazine, Outside, Alaska Airlines, Time For Kids, Sierra, Runner’s World, Travel & Leisure, Boy’s Life, USA, and the Washington Post, among others. Mark Kelley’s images have appeared on the covers of more than two hundred publications.
Mark has published twelve photo books with over a quarter million copies sold. Mark’s latest book “Once Upon Alaska”, is a Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold Recipient and a Foreword’s 2013 Book of the Year Finalist. Mark’s books “Glacier Bay National Park: Alaska”, “Alaska’s Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glaciers”, and “Alaska: A Photographic Excursion” were awarded a Benjamin Franklin Award by The Independent Book Publishers Association in 2001, 2006, and 2008, respectively. Mark Kelley produces two annual calendars, with over 200,000 calendars sold to date, as well as note cards, postcards, bookmarks, and individually signed prints.
Mark Kelley is a silver winner in the Graphis Photography Annual 2015 Contest and a winner in the 72nd Annual Picture of the Year International Competition, Natural History Category-Reportage Division. He is a North American Nature Photography Association Showcase winner and a recipient of the Daniel Housberg Wilderness Image Award for Excellence in Still Photography from the Alaska Conservation Foundation. Mark placed first in the 2013 Nature’s Best Windland Smith Rice Photography Awards—Outdoor Adventure Category and his winning image is now part of the Smithsonian’s permanent collection. In 2014 and 2013 Mark received an “Award of Excellence” from Communications Arts, the leading trade journal for visual communications. Mark’s work in journalism has been recognized by the Alaska Press Club, the National Press Photographers Association, and the Society of Professional Journalists.
“As a kid in Buffalo, New York, I always wondered what it would be like to encounter a whale,” says Mark, “I moved north and in 1978 graduated from the University of Alaska with a journalism degree.” Mark worked as a photojournalist for the Juneau Empire, Juneau’s only daily newspaper, for over thirteen years before leaving to pursue a full-time career in freelance photography and publishing in 1993.
Mark has lived in Alaska for more than 40 years. He resides in Juneau where he and his wife, Jan, raised their two sons, Gabe and Owen.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 8, 2014
With stunning photos and charming verse, “Once Upon Alaska” invites you to celebrate “a land so grand and wide and far.” Mark Kelley’s photographs capture the beauty and diversity of Alaska’s wildlife and landscapes. His kid-pleasing images, splashed across two pages, include a porcupine having “another bad hair day,” and two cute bear cubs parked for safety in a tree by their mother. Nick Jans’ rhyming verses are a pleasure to read aloud (over and over again). “Fins a-shimmer, tails a-shiver, Wriggling up the icy river” is Jans' description of pink salmon swimming up a fish ladder in Juneau.
This wonderful book, intended for “the child in all of us,” will please adults as much as children. You may even learn something about our 49th state from four pages of “fun & factoids” that close the book. Did you know that a porcupine is born with quills? Yes, a quarter of a million of them!
The thick, glossy pages of this book will hold up well to enthusiastic little fingers.Once Upon Alaska, A Kid's Photo Book
This wonderful book, intended for “the child in all of us,” will please adults as much as children. You may even learn something about our 49th state from four pages of “fun & factoids” that close the book. Did you know that a porcupine is born with quills? Yes, a quarter of a million of them!
The thick, glossy pages of this book will hold up well to enthusiastic little fingers.Once Upon Alaska, A Kid's Photo Book
December 10, 2014
This was a Goodreads book that I received. I was delighted with the photography. From scenery photos to those of people or animals--all were very well done. The little poems to go with each page will certainly be fun to read to my grandchildren. I also liked the Alaskan Factoids at the end of the book which helped explain the different animals we read about as well as a bit about Alaskan life. This will be a great gift for one of my grandchildren. Anyone with children or grandchildren who has visited Alaska or hopes to will find this book a great gift.
November 6, 2014
Once Upon Alaska by Mark Kelly & Nick Jans
Goodreads Author
I loved this book. The pictures are so very beautiful. A wonderful book with all the animals in Alaska. All kids would enjoy and also us big kids! This would be a great gift for the coming Christmas season.
Goodreads Author
I loved this book. The pictures are so very beautiful. A wonderful book with all the animals in Alaska. All kids would enjoy and also us big kids! This would be a great gift for the coming Christmas season.
November 15, 2014
I received a copy of this book through First Reads.
The photograph on the cover and the pictures throughout the book are beautiful! We enjoyed reading the Alaska Fun & Factoids section in the back of the book. This book is great for both kids and adults that love nature.
The photograph on the cover and the pictures throughout the book are beautiful! We enjoyed reading the Alaska Fun & Factoids section in the back of the book. This book is great for both kids and adults that love nature.
August 13, 2018
Celebrate Alaska, A land so grand and wide and far... With beautiful photography and rhyming verse that introduces the reader to a world they may have never experienced. A deep passion for Alaska is expressed in a kid's book that deserves recognition and a good audience - no matter where you live.
•A Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold Recipient
•A Foreword’s 2013 Book of the Year Award Finalist
•Honorable Mention - The Eric Hoffer Book Award
•Photography Annual 55 Winner – Book Category
•A Mom’s Choice Awards® Gold Recipient
•A Foreword’s 2013 Book of the Year Award Finalist
•Honorable Mention - The Eric Hoffer Book Award
•Photography Annual 55 Winner – Book Category
October 8, 2017
We visited Alaska this summer and the stunning photography in this book captures the spectacular beauty that is Alaska.
July 7, 2022
Cute for kids! Parents bought this for my daughter while visiting Alaska and it’s autographed. 2 year old loves the pictures!
August 7, 2024
Love the photos!
August 6, 2025
Amazing photo book. Adorable rhymes. I bought 3 for grandchildren and a great memory for my Alaska cruise. Highly recommend!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews