  | Full Text Reviews: Booklist - 02/01/2014 *Starred Review* Throughout the day, as a boy and a girl walk in fields near their house, they see many birds and hear their distinctive calls. But a quiet bird captures the children’s attention. Sitting in her nest in a tree, the robin is alert but silent. The next morning, the duo hears sounds from the nest, beginning with “tapping cracking” and ending with “breaking shaking.” Three baby birds join the robin and her mate in the nest. The appended “A Word with the Bird” section, cleverly written as a Q&A with the robin, offers a short, highly readable account of life in the nest before and after the eggs hatch. Included is an explanation of why the nesting bird is quiet: “I don’t want other animals to know I am hiding eggs. They might eat them!” The pleasing text is well constructed, with rhythm and rhyme altered in different types of stanzas, and distinctive birdsongs included in the verse. In his picture-book debut, Pak’s collage-style artwork is distinctive, dynamic, and rewarding to look at again and again. Retro in style, the watercolor-and-digital-media illustrations make good use of varied perspectives, layouts, and lighting effects. A beautifully crafted, informative picture book. - Copyright 2014 Booklist. School Library Journal - 02/01/2014 PreS-Gr 3—A boy and girl on a neighborhood walk encounter many birds singing and calling. Short rhyming verses capture the essence of these backyard birds, e.g., "Cardinal wears a pointy hat. 'cheer-cheer-cheer-purdy-purdy-purdy'/Chickadee is an acrobat. 'chick-a-dee-dee-dee.'" The children wonder why the robin nesting in the tree next to their house is silent, until the day when cheeping, peeping follow the tapping, cracking sounds of the eggs hatching. Soft watercolor and collagelike digital art beautifully impart a springtime feeling to the spreads. Following the poem-story is a two-page mock "interview" with the mother bird, which serves as a useful explanation of nesting behaviors. This lovely introduction to common neighborhood birds also includes some less familiar varieties, such as the wood thrush and the whip-poor-will.—Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Fairfax County Public Library, VA - Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission. Bulletin for the Center... - 04/01/2014 As a brother and sister play outside on the wild, spacious grounds of their country home, they are aware of the songs of the many birds that perch and dart around them: “Woodpecker calls from a tree with a hole,/ cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk/ Starling sings from a metal pole./ whistle-ee-wee-tree.” They are perplexed, though, at the silence of the robin that nests in the tree: “‘Not a single tweet or trill.’ ‘This nesting bird is so still!’” The days’ avian cacophony gives way to a deep, peaceful night, and in the morning there’s a bustle of activity around the nest-tapping, rustling, peeping: “The baby birds are here!” It’s a simple story that has seen many iterations for the preschool and primary set, but this time the emphasis is on auditory rather than visual discovery of the hatchlings. With its many birdcalls that invite imitation, the text is enjoyable in its own right, as are the softly textured, earth-toned setting in which children and birds enjoy each other’s company. Additionally, the closing notes provide an informative bonus, cleverly styled as an “A Word with a Bird” interview, that allows the robin to explain in detail why she was so very quiet, how she and her mate work together to care for their young, what will happen to the hatchlings, and whether she has a song of her own (“I make lots of different sounds to communicate, but mostly the father bird does the singing: In fact, that’s why I picked him. I love his song”). Who better to illuminate the finer points of robins’ domestic life than the mother bird herself? EB - Copyright 2014 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Loading...
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