Module 11 - Birds

Module 11 - Birds

Book Summary -

This is a young children's book that tells of birds of all kinds. It explains different options, different colors, and different shapes. It explains that they go away in the winter, but come back in the spring. The book ends with a focus on how birds and people are similar: the can both sing.

APA Reference -

Henkes, K. (2009). Birds. New York: Greenwillow Books.

My Impressions -

This is a great book for very young readers. It is not as simplistic as a counting book, but the illustrations do help with the reading. It would be a good book to help readers learn to read. I loved the illustrations. They are colorful and fun. It is simply a beautiful book that teaches young children the basics of birds.

Professional Review -

PreS-K-- This brief introduction to birds focuses on such basic features as their different colors and sizes. Soft acrylic paintings that appear as spreads, vignettes, and framed scenes match a text that perfectly conveys the young narrator's fascination with the birds in her environment. "Once I saw seven birds on the telephone wire. They didn't move and they didn't move and they didn't move. I looked away for just a second…." Three lines of identically positioned birds on wires appear with the text across the spread. Then a page turn reveals a thick, black, empty wire stretched across a stark white spread along with the words "and they were gone." The youngster imagines what the sky would look like if the birds could make marks with their tails and how bird-clouds would look during the day and at night. She can't really fly like the birds, but the final page demonstrates one way in which she can imitate them. The child voice in this charming story is just right and will resonate with the very youngest children. And the little girl's musings can encourage more "what if" conversations that will spark their imaginations.

Saccardi, M. (2009). Birds. School Library Journal, 55(2), 76.

Library Uses -

This would be a good read aloud book for Pre-K or Kindergartners. The children can then draw their favorite birds.