Birds

SAVING THE BIRDS

	By Olivia Bouler, Olivia’s Birds: Saving the Gulf (Sterling, 2011) is the story of an 11-year-old girl’s campaign to save the Gulf Coast birds after the devastating oil spill of 2010. For ages 3-9.
	Kathryn Lasky’s She’s Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head! (Disney-Hyperion, 1997) is the picture-book story of Harriet Hemenway and Minna Hall, who founded the Massachusetts Audubon Society. For ages 5-9.
	Sara Pennypacker’s Sparrow Girl (Disney-Hyperion, 2009) is based on Mao-Tse-tung’s “Sparrow War” in 1958, when farmers were ordered to terrify and destroy the sparrows who were eating the grain crop. The unexpected result was a plague of locusts, which the sparrows had kept under control, and famine. The hero of the story is young Ming-Li who defends the sparrows. For ages 5-9.
	In Meindert DeJong’s 1955 Newbery winner, The Wheel on the School (HarperCollins, 1972), young Lina wonders why there are no more storks – birds that are said to bring good luck – in her village. Soon she has co-opted the entire community into luring the storks back home by proving rooftop wheels where they can build their nests. For ages 8-12.
	In Gill Lewis’s Wild Wings (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012), Iona and Callum in Scotland (an unlikely pair) join forces to protect an endangered osprey – a story that eventually links to people around the world. For ages 8-12.
	In Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot (Yearling, 2005), Roy Eberhardt, recently moved from Montana to Florida, joins forces with the intimidating Beatrice and her brother Mullet Fingers to save a colony of tiny burrowing owls from Mother Paula’s All-American Pancake House. Funny, brave, and wonderful. For ages 10 and up.
	Stephen Kress’s Project Puffin (Tilbury House Publishers, 2003) is the story of how Kress and his team of “Puffineers” restored the puffin population of Egg Rock, an island off the coast of Maine. For ages 10 and up.
	For more information, see Project Puffin.
	By Pete Salmansohn and Stephen W. Kress, Saving Birds: Heroes Around the World (Tilbury House Press, 2005) has six dramatic stories of people around the world fighting to save wild birds. For ages 10 and up.
	Philip Hoose’s beautifully designed The Race to Save the Lord God Bird (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2014) is a 200-year history of the pursuit of the – extinct? – ivory-billed woodpecker. For ages 12 and up.

STATE BIRDS

	Hudson Talbot’s United Tweets of America (Putnam Juvenile Books, 2008) is the humorously illustrated story of all 50 state birds, in alphabetical order by state. For each is included information about the bird, a map of the state, and basic state information, including other state symbols, the state capital, famous people, and more. For ages 7-10.
	Official U.S. State Birds has them all, listed by state or bird name. Click on an entry for illustrations and information.
	Annika Bernhard’s State Birds and Flowers Coloring Book (Dover Publications,1990) has black-line versions of them all, ready for crayons or colored pencils.