On Bird Hill (On Bird Hill and Beyond #1)

by Jane Yolen (Author) Bob Marstall (Illustrator)

On Bird Hill (On Bird Hill and Beyond #1)
Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

From award-winning and NY Times bestselling children's author of more than 370 books, Jane Yolen, and award-winning illustrator, Bob Marstall, On Bird Hill is a wonderful picture book created in collaboration with the esteemed Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the world authority on birds.

On Bird Hill is first in a new Jane Yolen series created for the Cornell Lab, loosely based on "The Green Grass Grew All Around," a nursery rhyme first published as a song in 1912 with words by William Jerome and melody by Harry Von Tilzer. But in this version, it's a boy and his dog who find the bird in a nest on a hill in a strange valley.

This beautiful and enchanting story is sure to attract interest from millions of readers and fans of Jane's popular classics.

As with all Cornell Lab Publishing Group books, 35% of the net proceeds from the sale of On Bird Hill goes directly to the Cornell Lab to support projects such as children's educational and community programs.

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$8.95

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Kirkus

Starred Review
An imaginative and original depiction of one of life s everyday miracles.

Publishers Weekly

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)

Copyright 2016 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2--Featuring a single poem with a pleasing rhythm, this picture book opens at sunrise with the main character setting off on a walk with the dog. "As I was walking on Bird Hill, /Though it was day, the moon shone still." A fantastical aerial view of a sweeping hilly landscape shows a tiny moon still in the top left corner and the narrator and dog far away on the bottom right. Each subsequent spread presents two more lines from the poem that build on the lines that came before and work together with the art to bring readers closer into the scene. ("And on Bird Hill, I saw a tree.") From tree to trunk to limb to twig, readers are able to zoom in until they find a bird on a nest, and then even closer until, beneath the bird, the baby chick shows through the surface of its egg. Here the focus of the illustration pulls back, and the egg begins to hatch. The spread where the bird breaks through is left wordless, and at this point the book turns, putting the baby chick in charge of observing: "He saw the twig, limb, trunk, and tree, /And then he saw the moon.../...and me, /As I walked down Bird Hill." The book is done in spring colors, and its bright visual design, interesting perspectives, and surprising details offer much to observe and ponder.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

ALA/Booklist

Perfect rhyme...we are all explorers once we leave our egg and look around...Marstall's curving lines and paths draw the reader in...underscoring the intertwined relationship of humans and nature.

Review quotes

"Author Jane Yolen and Illustrator Bob Marstall have hit upon just the right balance of simple, ready for bedtime story telling with amazing huge splash page art. — Beyond the Car Seat

"This book is special...with the wonderful words of Jane Yolen...lovely rhythm, It opens your eyes to the extraordinary in the ordinary of nature...a great start for the Cornell Lab s new publishing group. I look forward to more books in the series." — NC Teacher Stuff

"The illustrations of the chick s birth express the newborn bird s wonder and joy, and his mother s quiet love. The observant reader can find many delightful details on every page. A Charming story that draws us in. — Can You Read Me A Story Blog

Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen is the author of more than 300 books for children and young adults, including the Caldecott-winning Owl Moon and the New York Times best-selling How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? With Candlewick, she is the editor of three collections of poems for children: Switching on the Moon: A Very First Book of Bedtime Poems; Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry; and This Little Piggy: Lap Songs, Finger Plays, Clapping Games, and Pantomime Rhymes. She divides her time between Massachusetts and Scotland.

Kelly Murphy is the illustrator of Loony Little: An Environmental Tale. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9781943645022
Lexile Measure
620
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Cornell Lab Publishing Group
Publication date
May 10, 2016
Series
On Bird Hill and Beyond
BISAC categories
JUV002040 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Birds
JUV057000 - Juvenile Fiction | Stories in Verse (see also Poetry)
JUV029010 - Juvenile Fiction | Nature & the Natural World | Environment
Library of Congress categories
-

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