Birds

by Kevin Henkes, Laura Dronzek (Illustrator)

Overview

In what the New York Times Book Review calls “a perfect book,” a little girl watches birds from her window and dreams she can fly.

Perfect for the small dreamers and naturalists in your life, this critically acclaimed picture book is from the award-winning husband-and-wife team of Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek.

With a fine eye for detail, a girl observes and describes birds—their sizes, their colors, their shapes, the way they move and appear and disappear, and how they are most like her. She imagines what it would be like if clouds looked like birds, or if she could ask the birds questions.

Though she can’t fly, the girl can do one thing birds do—she can sing. Vibrant and lively paintings accompany a text pitched precisely to preschoolers in this husband-and-wife collaboration.

Booklist said, “Together, the words and pictures create a book that will enchant preschool audiences again and again.” Birds “will resonate with the youngest children,” said School Library Journal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061363047
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/17/2009
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	78,785
Product dimensions:	11.56(w) x 9.66(h) x 0.38(d)
Lexile:	AD410L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Kevin Henkes has been praised both as a writer and as an illustrator and is the recipient of the Children’s Literature Legacy Award for his lasting contribution to literature for children. He received the Caldecott Medal for Kitten’s First Full Moon; Caldecott Honors for Waiting and Owen; two Newbery Honors, one for Olive’s Ocean and one for The Year of Billy Miller; and Geisel Honors for Waiting and Penny and Her Marble. His other books include The World and Everything in It; A House; A Parade of Elephants; Chrysanthemum; and the beloved Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. Kevin Henkes lives with his family in Madison, Wisconsin.

Laura Dronzek is a painter whose work has been exhibited nationally. Her picture books include Moonlight, by Helen V. Griffith; It Is Night, by Phyllis Rowand; White Is for Blueberry, by George Shannon; Little Houses, by Kevin Henkes; and a quartet of seasonal picture books also by Kevin Henkes. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Hometown:

Madison, Wisconsin

Date of Birth:

November 27, 1960

Place of Birth:

Racine, Wisconsin

Education:

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Website:

http://www.kevinhenkes.com

Editorial Reviews

Birds trust[s] the intelligence and imagination of young children, and that’s what makes this a perfect book.

New York Times Book Review

Words and pictures perform a perfectly choreographed dance here.

Horn Book (starred review)

The words and pictures create a book that will enchant preschool audiences again and again.

Booklist (starred review)

"Words and pictures perform a perfectly choreographed dance here."

Horn Book

"The words and pictures create a book that will enchant preschool audiences again and again."

Booklist

Little girls can't fly, but they do share one great gift with birds: They can sing. This sweet picture book will send young readers soaring into Dreamland. An enchanting story; charming illustrations.

Husband-and-wife team Henkes and Dronzek (Oh!) record random thoughts about birds, enlivened by vignettes of thickly outlined bird shapes feathered with primary-school paintbox colors. Observations as spare as haiku-"Sometimes, in winter, a bird in a tree looks like one red leaf left over"-are pictured wistfully; here, a cardinal perches, leaf-like, on a high branch of a leafless tree. The appeal throughout is Henkes's ability to channel the way young children think ("If birds made marks with their tail feathers when they flew, think what the sky would look like") and see ("If there are lots of birds in one tree and they all fly away at the same time, it looks like the tree yelled, 'SURPRISE!' "). Although the artwork most often follows the text's lead, richer moments come when Dronzek steps forward and does the imagining. "If clouds were birds, the sky would look like this," Henkes writes; with a dry, loosely wielded brush, Dronzek paints bird-shaped silhouettes of clouds tinted the same color as the setting sun they soar over. A kind of book of meditations for the very young, its reflective tone and peaceful illustrations make this an excellent bedtime choice. Ages 2-5. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Publishers Weekly

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.-Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT

School Library Journal

A precocious girl's reverie begins when the birds' morning songs drift through her window. Initially, she reflects on their vastly varied physical attributes; her thoughts then turn to the birds' relationship with their physical environment, both collectively and individually. Powerful images reflect their beauty. "Sometimes in winter, a bird in a tree looks like one red leaf left over." While the girl wishes to fly like birds she enjoys, she is encouraged by the commonality that unites them: "I can sing!" Dronzek's wavy black lines accentuate the birds' natural radiance; acrylic smudges exude a hazy glow. Dark bursts of color explode against the sky in a striking double-page spread as a flock takes flight en masse; the word "surprise" above outstretched branches reflects the thought with bold uneven letters. Spare language enhances the story's quiet essence; the girl's musings change abruptly, with a child's mercurial speed, resulting in a grounded offering that begins to fly but doesn't fully soar. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews

The words and pictures create a book that will enchant preschool audiences again and again.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Words and pictures perform a perfectly choreographed dance here.” — Horn Book (starred review)

“The child voice in this charming story is just right and will resonate with the very youngest children.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“Birds trust[s] the intelligence and imagination of young children, and that’s what makes this a perfect book.” — New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher