by Laura Erickson, Brian Sockin, illustrated by Anna Rettberg
Age Range: 4 – 6
They play a game called “Am I Like You?” in which they address the questions “What birds are like us? / What birds are we like?” The illustrations are skillfully drawn, bold, and Disney-esque in aesthetic, clearly and accurately portraying characteristics of common North American birds: American robin, chickadee, cardinal, blue jay, red-tailed hawk, hummingbird, Canada goose, mallard, great blue heron, pigeon, and owl…a 21st-century meditation on selfhood. (Picture book. 4-6)
“First in a planned series (a portion of proceeds will benefit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology), this dreamy story follows a child and his dog on a stroll by the sea. Writing in characteristically well- structured verse, Yolen (the How Do Dinosaurs… series) echoes the story line of the nursery rhyme “The Green Grass Grew All Around,” starting broadly (“As I was walking on Bird Hill,/ Though it was day, the moon shone still”) then narrowing in on a tree, twig, bird, and nest. Inside, the boy sees “an egg,/ A little chick, all beak, wing, leg.” Marstall (Butternut Hollow Pond) brings a slight Seussian weirdness to the setting—the narrowest of paths swoops around chartreuse hills, while impossibly skinny trees taper into branches capped by yellow, tendril-like flowers. When the chick hatches, the inside of its shell is a world unto itself, a nighttime scene featuring a house that looks like the one the boy calls home. It’s a sweetly surreal meditation on the everyday wonders that await in the wild. Ages 3–5. Author’s agent: Elizabeth Harding, Curtis Brown. Illustrator’s agent: Abigail Samoun, Red Fox Literary. (May)”
