Lynn and Cindy: Where we live in West Michigan, summer is a busy time for birds. Birdhouses and nests are hopping places with busy parents zooming back and forth to hungry chicks, some on their second or third broods. Watching birds nest and raise their chicks can be a wondrous thing for a child and the subject has been explored in many picture books over the years. But there is always room for more! This season has brought us two we have especially enjoyed. They are very different in tone and style but both books are a joy to share with young readers.
Lynn: I’m leading off with Henry Cole’s beautiful and eye-catching new book, Nesting (Harper/Katherine Tegen, 2020). Cole uses thin black lines and crosshatching to create wondrous detail. In the opening pages a tree and a male Robin fill the page. It is spring. Into the picture comes a female robin and a light blue tint eases onto the page. The busy robins build a nest and in a breathtaking illustration, a beautiful blue egg lies in the center of the nest. Cole is a master of perspective and design as well as draftsmanship. Subsequent pages show groupings of wonderfully detailed small illustrations that alternate with 2 page spreads showing the tree and countryside or nest in a storm or under attack from a snake. Each page begs for long and careful viewing. It is hard to chose a favorite but the 2 page spread with the small sketches of the azure eggs and the nesting female may be my choice.
The accompanying text use simple sentences for a very young audience. While this tells a story, the science is clearly presented and wonderfully accessible. An Author’s Note provides additional facts about robins. Masterful and enchanting.
Cindy: As nesting ends here and migration season is getting underway, many parents may be dealing with nervous children just beginning their school career or those going back face-to-face in our pandemic. Mark Teague’s Fly! (S&S/Beach Lane, 2019) is a humorous look at taking a risk to leave the nest. Mama Robin is ready for her baby to fly, but he is content to stay in the nest and have the worms delivered to him. When his begging stops working and he falls out of the tree his imagination starts working overtime as to how he might get back up into the nest. Teague’s acrylic illustrations will make everyone giggle as the baby works through his emotions and options. Parasailing, anyone? 🙂 Pogo stick migration? 🙂
Sometimes we all need some encouragement to get out of our comfort zone. Fly! offers it in a non-threatening way—unless you count the owl!
bookendsblog.net 