If you have a young birder (or any young person, because frankly, all children should learn more about nature) on your Christmas list, you can't go wrong with Janie Suss' biography of a family of osprey.
Long known as the "Bird Lady" in her neighborhood, Janie sees the need for more nesting sites for the multitude of osprey who live near the Chesapeake Bay. She convinces her husband to help build a nesting platform at the end of their pier, and so begins a year-long journey she takes with the two adult osprey who choose her creation to begin a family.
The book chronicles the trials and joys of Oscar and Olive, and later, their offspring, as two osprey become a family. Janie lovingly writes of the parallels of a bird family and her own: The love of parents for their children, and the sometimes challenging job of being a sibling.
Written mostly from the *ospreys' point of view, it is an easy read for children and a book that begs to be shared by parents and kids alike.
*(Anthropomorphism isn't something that I endorse, usually. But this story can help bring a child closer to the knowledge that birds do care about their children, just as human parents care about theirs.)
The end of the book has resources for building your own osprey platform, and some fun facts about osprey. (I will interject this: One small correction...osprey are not the only raptor to possess opposable toes.)
A fun, light story to bring children closer not only to the lives of birds, but a lovely story about family, either feathered or otherwise.
Click here to order.
My rating: One and a half wings up!
2 comments:
So what's the highest rating?
Two wings up?
Yes, "two wings" is the highest.
See, birds have TWO WINGS. I is so clever.
:)
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