This beautiful, lively guide to birds and their lives, is full of illustrations by Carolyn Gavin on every page. We see wood ducks, blue jays, chimney swifts and other feathered friends going about their normal habits, which give their identities away to bird-watchers. Young readers will delight in NATURE ALL AROUND: BIRDS as they can bring it to a window and try to identify the birds on the feeder or in the garden bushes. Don’t have a feeder? We’re shown how to make one from a plastic bottle, a stick and twine.

All a bird watcher needs are a keen eye and patience. Developing these skills is an excellent lesson for young readers, and can help them build good habits for a lifetime. They will also learn body language and interpretation of bird interactions. Another plus is a basic understanding of migration and seasonal change. An index at the back and a glossary get readers started on how to use such reference sections. The birds shown are all found in North America but the lessons can apply to other lands.

If you were the young person who liked nature study at school, and found that learning about different kinds of birds and what they eat or where they nest, was fun, then pass on the lessons. Pass on this book. Children spend enough time looking at screens today – let them look out the window, out the car window, look around them while hiking, listen carefully to birdsong. Author Pamela Hickman provides just enough information to balance the colourful, motion-filled images. She has previously written books about trees, plants and insects in this ‘Nature All Around’ series, and BIRDS should be a runaway, or should that be flyaway, success.

Book Summary