Stork's Landing

by Tami Lehman-Wilzig, Anna Shuttlewood (Illustrator)

Overview

When a migrating stork gets tangled in a net in the fish ponds on Maya’s kibbutz, Maya wonders what to do. Can she and her father find a way to nurse it back to health and send it back into the wild? Set in Israel, one of the bird capitals of the world with the highest number of migrating birds anywhere, this story brings the beauty of nature in Israel to life and highlights an unusual part of Israeli life―the kibbutz.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467713962
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2014
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	425,841
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.20(d)
Lexile:	AD630L (what's this?)
Age Range:	5 - 8 Years

About the Author

Tami Lehman-Wilzig is an award-winning author of 14 picture books, including Keeping The Promise and Soosie, The Horse That Saved Shabbat. Born in America, she lives in Kfar Saba, Israel, with her husband, where she shares her love of stories with her grandchildren.

Read an Excerpt

Stork's Landing

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By Tami Lehman-Wilzig, Anna Shuttlewood

Kar-Ben Publishing

Copyright © 2014 Tami Lehman-Wilzig
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4677-1395-5

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CHAPTER 1

Maya hears the sound of flapping wings. It's spring on the kibbutz. A large flock of white storks flies over head, making its way from Africa to Europe, where they will spend the summer. May a knows the storks will land on the kibbutz to rest. They always do.

Maya starts running. She hopes that Abba and the other fish farmers have covered the ponds with nets to protect the fish.

One of the storks circles, looking hungrily for her next meal.

As the bird tries to land, her long, graceful legs get caught in the net. She tries to set herself free, but can't. Scared, she flaps her wings until c-r-a-c-k, one wing breaks. Sad and hurt, the stork lowers her head just as Maya reaches the pond.

Maya takes out her walkie-talkie. "S-O-S. Stork in net," she radios her father. "I'm on my way," he signals back.

When Abba arrives, he gently lifts the injured stork. "Looks like the vet will have to operate." But the broken wing cannot be fixed.

"We have to take care of her," Maya insists. "She is so beautiful, and now she can't move."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Stork's Landing by Tami Lehman-Wilzig, Anna Shuttlewood. Copyright © 2014 Tami Lehman-Wilzig. Excerpted by permission of Kar-Ben Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

"Simple, colorful illustrations complement the text, with the white and gray of the storks set against vibrant spring blossoms and muted shades of autumn skies. Several aspects of life in Israel enhance the story: the annual migration of birds and the cooperative community environment of the kibbutz." — AJL Reviews

From the Publisher

07/28/2014
In spring, migrating storks always stop at young Maya’s kibbutz on their way back to their European homes. When one stork breaks its wing on some netting in a kibbutz fish pond, Maya becomes the bird’s advocate; with help from her father, the stork becomes a surrogate mother to a nestful of needy stork chicks. Lehman-Wilzig (Zvuvi’s Israel) immerses readers in rhythms of kibbutz life from the very first page, and she never makes a big deal of Maya’s confidence and competence: when the girl pulls out her walkie-talkie and sends out the alert, “S-O-S. Stork in net,” it’s the most natural thing in the world. U.K.-based illustrator Shuttlewood works in watercolors, an ideal medium for a story that takes place entirely outdoors. She renders her human characters in a somewhat simple style, as if reserving the detailing for the birds at the center of the story. And handsome they are, with a magnificent, snowy wingspans tipped in black, and bright red legs and beaks. It’s easy to why Maya devotes her considerable intelligence and energies to them. Ages 3–8. Illustrator’s agent: Advocate Art. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

2014-05-28
A wild stork receives some loving care when it becomes caught in netting on Maya’s kibbutz during the annual migration from Africa to Israel.Maya’s abba is a fish farmer and each year protects his stock from hungry, swooping storks by placing netting across the ponds. But when one stork’s feet become entangled, she breaks her wing in her struggle to free herself. Maya rescues and cares for the injured stork, naming her Yaffa, “pretty” in Hebrew. As Yaffa heals, a pair of storks make their nest in a tree on the kibbutz, producing three little chicks. When the mother leaves, never to return, the male stork, named Tzadok (“righteous”) by Maya, remains but needs a partner to scavenge for and feed the chicks. Yaffa is gently introduced and placed in the nest to help the young family until the chicks are ready to fly. Watercolors in muted natural hues on textured paper add a sense of serenity to the tale. It is unusual in its depiction of an Israeli kibbutz, though it does little to portray the distinctiveness of kibbutz life, beyond references to the other farmers; the focus on Maya’s altruistic act obscures the authentic portrayal of the collective business of farming fish.A well-meaning but ultimately unsuccessful blend of eco-awareness and aquaculture. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews