13th May World Migratory Bird Day

This year the theme for World Migratory Bird Day is “Birds Connect Our World” and it was chosen to highlight the importance of conserving and restoring the ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystems that support the natural movements of migratory birds and that are essential for their survival and well-being. What a great theme!

I have written about this day before, but wanted to write about it again because lately I have been reminded of so many beautiful books that do this topic so well.

Mike Unwin and Jenni Desmond's wonderful book Migration gives many examples of birds that do these great migrations, but it is the individual picture story books that heighten our awe and empathy for both the birds and the sheer vastness of the journeys.

Jeannie Baker's Circle  tells the migration story for the Bar-tailed Godwit which makes the longest unbroken migration of any bird, a total of 11000 kilometres, all the way from Alaska to New Zealand. The illustrations allow the reader to follow the journey very closely and to marvel at the ingenuity and tenacity of such a small bird. New Zealand authors have also written about this bird and a new book  Little Godwit Finds His Wings was published this year.

Two books that look at migrating cranes are Grandfather's Dream by Holly Keller and Lotus and Feather by Ji-Li Jiang. Holly Keller's book, set in Vietnam tells the story of Nam and her grandfather who is constantly harking back to the days when the cranes came to the delta as part of their migratory journey.  Jiang's story, set in China tells of a crane that fails to finish a migration because of a hunter's bullet. The discussions elicited by classroom readings of these two books. Lotus and Feather could be read along side Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacca as there are similarities in that Rechenka is an injured goose who also needs to be nursed back to health.

Another two books for comparison are about hummingbirds. Look for Tiny Bird by Robert Burleigh and Wendell Minor and Hummingbird by Nicola Davies and Jane Ray. Both of these chart the long journey from Mexico to Canada that this tiny bird that is smaller than you thumb makes each Spring.    

In Is this Panama? by Jan Thornhill and  Soyeon Kim,  a young Wilson's warbler wakes up one day knowing this is the day to start a long journey from the Arctic Circle to Panama and because this bird is named, Sammy you cannot help but get involved in his plight. He is no longer, just any bird!

I noticed there is a new book coming called The Sea Swallow and the Humpback Whale by Catherine Barr and Gerry Turley which tracks two migratory journeys across sea and sky. I look forward to seeing this.

While each of these books tells an amazing story of persistence, resilience and sheer determination it is the illustrations in each that make them very special. The illustrations do much more than give a map or track a journey. They personalise, imbue wonder and allow the reader to marvel.

20th January Buzz Aldrin (1930)

It is the birthday of Edwin Eugene (Buzz) Aldrin, arguably the most famous of the astronauts who have walked on the moon. He has made a business from this success. He also has used what he knows about space to write children's books. These two are popular in my library.

18th March

Now for the rest of yesterday's birthdays.

Wendell Minor is an American illustrator whose style of illustration is often larger than life, but so realistic that you also feel as if you are there having the experience depicted. In his new book where the illustrations accompany the words of the Gordon Titcomb song, The Last Train, you feel as if you are on the train or watching it across a field. His books that accompany Jean Craighead George's closely observed nature texts also bring you up close to the animals. See The Last Polar Bear; Snow Bear and The Wolves Are Back. Other books where Wendell has brought experience to life are Buzz Aldrin's Reach For the Sky and Look to the Stars.

Patrick McDonnell is an American cartoonist with a very successful comic strip about a dog called Mutts, but I first met his work when I bought his picture book Art and was enamoured of both the text and art. It too is cartoony, but it has Pollock-type artwork and Harold of purple crayon fame type imagination and makes a fun book about a small boy named Art. Recently I read about Patrick's new book to be released in April. Called Me...Jane, it is a biography of Jane Goodall and her gorillas. I can't wait to see it.

And lastly, Keith Baker who is also an American illustrator. I do not know his birth date, but I do know I love his illustrations and cannot wait to have fun with L M N O Peas and Potato Joe when Kindergarten are doing food. His other books are just as special and lend themselves to maths activities, units of enquiry or simply literature response. The Magic Fan has a text, art and paper engineering to elicit extensive discussion and given the recent tsunami in Japan it is extremely pertinent.

2nd July Jean Craighead George (1919 - 2012)

Jean Craighead George is the author of the well-known award-winning novels My Side of the Mountain and Julie of the Wolves, but the children I teach know her for her picture books that also deal with the natural environment. On her website she says, " I write for children. Children are still in love with the wonders of nature, and I am too. So I tell stories about a boy and a falcon, a girl and an elegant wolf pack, about owls, weasels, foxes, prairie dogs, the alpine tundra, the tropical rainforest. And when the telling is done, I hope they will want to protect all the beautiful creatures and places."

The picture books that Jean has done with the illustrator Wendell Minor give children a beautiful insight into nature and they allow Australian children to visit environments that they may never visit as they are so far away. She seems particularly fond of the northern tundra and the animals that share their living spaces with the Inuit people.

27th May Rachel Carson (1907 - 1964)

Rachel Carson was an American ecologist, a marine biologist and nature writer whose writings are credited with beginning the global environmental movement. I have included her birthday because in the library we have a beautiful picture book - Rachel: The Story of Rachel Carson by Amy Ehrlich and Wendell Minor. Year 2 use it when they look at biographies and again when doing an environmental unit of work. It highlights Rachel's childhood and how she was an inquisitive child who liked to be outside exploring the natural world. An epilogue fills in the other details of her life.

While searching to see whether there were other children's books about Rachel Carson I learned that there is Rachel Carson: Preserving a Sense of Wonder by Joseph Bruchac and Thomas Locker. I would like to see it as Thomas Locker's illustrations always interest me. Viewing his illustrations always makes me feel as if I am at an exhibition of paintings in a gallery. I also found a very interesting interview with Amy and Wendell about the making of the book about Rachel Carson.