What Bluebirds Do by Pamela F. Kirby
Posted by: Cindy Dobrez and Lynn Rutan
Lynn: “Bluebirds rock,” says award-winning photographer/author Pamela Kirby and it takes only a few pages of her glorious intimate pictures to agree with her. Kirby’s stunning photographs chronicle a pair of Eastern bluebirds as they raise five chicks in the nesting box in her backyard. Simple clear text provides fascinating information that is ideal for young readers who want more extensive facts than are usually found in nonfiction for the K-Gr.2 set. Our focus group, Hayden and Mason, pounced on What Bluebirds Do (Boyds Mills, 2009) when I first brought it home and we read it together for weeks. Now they pull it from the stack to read independently, the pictures providing helpful clues to the more difficult words. A glossary, extensive bibliography and additional information is provided at the end of this wonderful book. This is a must-buy for those of you looking for quality nonfiction for emergent readers. It gets an enthusiastic thumbs-up from all of us!
Cindy: Now that I’ve mastered putting out oranges for the orioles, this book tempted me to build a bluebird nesting box to attract these gorgeous birds to my yard. Then I read further: I’m not so sure about ordering the live mealworms to feed them even though Kirby provides websites for their purchase, so maybe I’ll just stick to rereading this book for now. The photographs are stunning and it’s just like being in the nest with the baby birds. The simple declarative sentences are perfect for the intended audience of emergent readers and provide lots of information perfectly matched with the photographs. I’m just a fledgling birder so this is the first time I’ve been exposed to the wonders of fecal sacs, allowing the bluebird parents to keep the nest clean in an efficient manner. Bluebirds do rock, and so does this book!
May 18th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Yeah! So glad you like this one!
May 19th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I showed this to the teacher who has been caring for the mama and baby ducklings in our courtyard at school and he begged me to buy this for the middle school, so two more sales. The text is a bit young for our crowd, but considering my adult interest in the photography and the students hovering around us as we looked at it, I think it will interest all ages.–Cindy
October 26th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Hello Lynn and Cindy. Thank you for your reviews. I will be at the Amer. Assoc. Of School Librarians in Charlotte Nov. 7. Hope to meet you.
Bluebirds and Blessings,
Pamela
October 26th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Wish we could be there! Unfortunately, we aren’t able to go. Hope we can meet up at another conference. We’ll be a ALA Midwinter and Annual.