Bird Show

by Susan Stockdale (Author) Susan Stockdale (Illustrator)

Bird Show
Reading Level: K − 1st Grade

Welcome to the Bird Show! Award-winning author-illustrator Susan Stockdale offers a front-row seat to a vibrant fashion show starring the world's most diverse and spectacular birds.

★ "Stunning... Wonderful for reading aloud and sharing." --School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

Stockdale's background as a textile designer and award-winning nonfiction author-illustrator are immediately evident in this energetic, rhyming celebration of pattern, color, and nature.

Bird Show features a variety of fashionable feathered creatures--from the Mandarin Duck and the Grey-Crowned Crane to the Royal Flycatcher and Golden Pheasant. Their feathers may be simple and solid or speckled, striped, or spotted. They may "wear" a jacket, a scarf, an apron, a headdress. And just like people, each one contributes to our beautiful world, made more vibrant by their diversity.

Little ornithologists and fashionistas will marvel at the book's color and style, and an afterword provides more information about each species as well as an entertaining pattern matching game.

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Hardcover
$16.99

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ALA/Booklist

With a brief text and clearly delineated, vibrant artwork that shows up well from a distance, this book is a natural for reading aloud during preschool or primary-grade bird units.

Kirkus

A posh performance to read aloud or alone. 

School Library Journal

Starred Review

PreS-Gr 2--This stunning title celebrates birds using brilliant colors and rhyming verse. As in her 2011 picture book Bring on the Birds, Stockdale honors the incredible diversity of birds, their habitats, and unique adaptations. Like models in a fashion show, each bird describes its traits and characteristics. For example, the cardinal proclaims, "My coat has one color," and the yellow-breasted chat declares, "My apron is yellow." The featured birds and their natural environments are identified in thumbnails at the end of the text, and their descriptive names paint a vivid picture. The included quiz to match colors and patterns to the respective bird completes the text and keeps readers engaged. Although cataloged in the natural sciences, Stockdale's mellifluous prose deserves to be classified as literature and her vibrant acrylic illustrations are art. VERDICT Wonderful for reading aloud and sharing; recommended for every library to introduce art, poetry, and glorious birds to young readers and lucky listeners.--Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Publishers Weekly

In spirited rhymes, author-illustrator Stockdale introduces 18 birds from around the world, showcasing broad variations found across nature by describing the birds' daily "fashion show." Simple couplets boast bouncy metaphors that compare feathered looks to items of human clothing and accessories, relayed through the first-person perspective of each fowl: "I flaunt a full skirt/ of milky-white lace," reads a spread featuring the Great Egret, followed by a page showing the Yellow-breasted Chat ("My apron is yellow") and another featuring the Superb-Bird-of-Paradise ("my dress has a face"). Sharp, streamlined illustrations clearly depict each bird and its distinctive plumage alongside thick, colorful borders and spare prose in a book that will surely appeal to the littlest bird watchers--and fashion designers. Back matter includes a guide to each of the birds pictured, including their native habitats, as well as a seek-and-find for the birds' patterns. Ages 2-6. (Mar.)

Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes




Susan Stockdale
Susan Stockdale began her art career as a textile designer for the apparel industry, providing her an opportunity to express her love of pattern and color. Today, pattern and color remain central to her work as the author and illustrator of critically acclaimed picture books that celebrate nature. Her books have won a variety of awards including the ALSC Notable Children's Book, NCTE Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts, NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12, and the Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year. Susan lives in Maryland with her husband and is a popular speaker at schools and conferences.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781682631287
Lexile Measure
520
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Peachtree Publishers
Publication date
March 02, 2021
Series
-
BISAC categories
JNF051150 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Zoology
JNF003030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Animals | Birds
JNF006030 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Art | Fashion
Library of Congress categories
Birds
Illustrated works

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