Birds Show Off Their Finery

Bird Show

by Susan Stockdale

32 pages; ages 2-6

Peachtree Publishing Company, 2021

theme: birds, art

I soar through the sky and like birds everywhere, I’m decked out in feathers and wear them with flair.

Welcome to the plumage fashion show! In this book, 18 brilliantly dressed birds show off their jackets, skirts, aprons, and headdresses. Well … at least they show off their wing bars, frilly feathers, long tails, and feathery crowns.

What I like about this book: The lyrical, rhyming text is fun to read aloud and emphasizes the “clothing-like” aspects of birds’ coloration. Susan’s paintings are bold and highlight texture and structure of the feather features. Through it all, she shows that birds, like people, are a vibrant and diverse lot.

And there is back matter! After explaining that birds are the only animals with feathers, she provides additional information about each bird featured in the book. She also includes a “match the pattern to the bird” activity.

Beyond the Books:

Author-illustrator Susan Stockdale gives a peek into her illustration process for Bird Show. Watch here. 

Head outside to watch the Bird Show in your neighborhood or local park. What birds do you see? What “fashions” are they showing off?

Draw and color in your own “showy” bird. It can be a real bird or you can create your own. Here are some ideas to get you going. Find showy tail feathers here.  Here’s a post at Cornell’s All About Birds showing feather colors.

Today we're joining Perfect Picture Book Friday, an event where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's website. Review copy provided by the publisher.

Feathers are Not just for Flying

Feathers ~ Not Just for Flying
by Melissa Stewart; illustrated by Sarah S Brannen
32 pages; ages 6-9 (great for older children too!)
Charlesbridge, 2014

Themes: animals, nature, nonfiction

How can you not want to pick up a book with a huge peacock feather looking you right in the eye?

Opening: "Birds and feathers go together like trees and leaves, like stars and the sky." And most birds, notes Melissa Stewart, have thousands of feathers. But not all feathers are the same, because feathers have so many different jobs to do.

Did you know that juncos use their feathers to distract predators? That ptarmigans use feathers like snowshoes? Stewart shows many ways that birds use feathers, from keeping warm to carrying nest materials to making music. Sarah Brannen's gorgeous watercolors fill in the details.

What I like love about this book: I like the scrapbook-style design that makes it look like a field notebook. And I like the combination of simple text for younger readers complemented with sidebars (or text boxes) with more details.

On the first spread, Stewart writes that feathers can warm like a blanket. I love the way the supplementary text is shown at the bottom, as a scrap of paper "taped" into a notebook. In addition to the lovely painting of a blue jay, Brannen includes details of blue jay feathers and a woven blanket. Every page is a treasure!

I like how, at the back, there is a spread showing many kinds of feathers and explaining how scientists classify types of feathers. It's like a picture dictionary for folks who want to know the difference between a bristle feather and a contour feather.

I also like Stewart's "author's note" where she talks about the inspiration for this book - and how it took three years of tinkering before it came together. A wonderful reminder that books take time, and many revisions.

Beyond the book: Get out a notebook and a pencil, maybe some watercolors or colored pencils, and start watching what the birds in your neighborhood are doing with their feathers. Do they warn off other birds (or squirrels) at the feeder? Are they fluffing up on cold days? Are they starting to carry things to build nests?

Look closely at a feather. When you find a feather on the ground, bring it home to study. What kind of feather is it? Draw a sketch - maybe color it in with pencils or watercolors. Use a magnifying lens to look closer. What do you observe?

I've got birds on the brain today! Head over to Sally's Bookshelf and check out another bird book and activities. Drop by STEM Friday to see what other science books and resources bloggers are sharing.

Today's review is part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday), an event in which bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. She keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books.

  On Monday we'll fly over to join the Nonfiction Monday round-up, where you'll find all kinds of great nonfiction for children and teens.  Review copy provided by publisher.

Feathery Finery

photo provided by Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Sometimes the clothes we choose to wear can let people know how we feel. If we want to catch someone's eye, we can put on a jaunty hat or dress up our duds by adding a bright scarf (or tie). Or we can go for the late-November "I just want to be cozy" layered look.

Birds do the same thing, but with their feathers. They can ruffle their feathers, preen their feathers, shake and rattle their feathers. They can raise their feathery crests or fluff up their feathers to look large and imposing.

Now is an excellent time to get outside and watch some feathery friends... and to encourage you, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Celebrate Urban Birds project is running a  Fascinating Feathers contest. This is an opportunity for you to send in your photos, artwork, poems, stories, videos and audio recordings of birds.... birds that seem irritated, out of sorts, all spruced up, or just pretty. Categories for photos (and artwork) include: best dressed, most bizarre, most functional, and most camouflaged. Check out the rules at Celebrate Urban Birds - and then grab your camera or your sketchbook and head outside to capture some images of some birds around your neighborhood. The contest ends on January 15, but you can keep snapping pictures of birds, drawing bird portraits, writing bird poetry, and learning their secret songs all winter long.

Today is STEM Friday - head over to the STEM Friday blog to see what other people are talking about in science.