A PEEK AT BEAKS: Remarkable Birds!

 I am a pushover for birds of any kind, and I treasure the years in which I was able to care for injured or abandoned birds as a licensed rehabilitator. I've always found them to be some of the most elegant, beautiful, and remarkable creatures on earth, which is saying a lot. Holding various birds in my own hands made me intimately aware of the facility and genius of their body designs and functions. Especially beaks. 

When a bobble-headed, featherless, newly-hatched bird arrives needing help to survive, the wrong care or feeding could end their lives, and yet they have very few identifiable attributes that will soon become visible. Those instinctively gaping beaks, their colorful open maws, and even their distinctive calls for food in those first hours and days provided critical information about what and how to feed them. So I'll add to this text that beak traits are also tools for survival in those earliest days.

Species identifiable traits will develop, as birds do, in a blink of time: growing feathers, becoming able to feed themselves, and (again instinctively) using those beaks in ways they were designed (by each species' adaptations) to do. 

MIllbrook Press, 2021

A PEEK AT BEAKS: Tools Birds Use, written by Sara Levine and illustrated by Kate Slater, is a colorful, delightful, curiosity-compelled picture book that will be loved by kids of many ages and by the adults who share them. Both creators appear to have a similar fascination with birds to my own. That's important, because the accuracy in the science (biology, anatomy, environment, etc.) for each bird in each category resonates with accuracy and informative content, but the tone of language and images make those examples feel as appealing as they are intriguing. 

Two elements of this book especially struck me as super-smart: 

The title page launches readers with precise illustrations of the tools that will be described and compared to birds throughout the book. It's a helpful approach, since many young readers may not be familiar with each of these common tools.

One page turn from that title page asks a very important question: "Have you ever imagined you were a bird?" It is beyond my brain to picture a single child (who has ever seen a bird) who would not have imagined themselves within that identity at some point or another. The pattern that then follows provides the premise (that bird beaks serve as useful tools that help birds survive and thrive), framing a silhouette of a bird seemingly using a version of the "tool" being compared.

Each comparison describes a single featured example, plus several more as "supporting cast" in secondary appearances within the illustrations. The closing has a fun participatory prompt. Brief backmatter offers a simple example/explanation about adaptive evolution and shifts over time among various bird species and the ways their "tools" have changed to suit their habitats.The further reading list is welcome and helpful, too, especially for those whose imaginations switch into overdrive!

This is a sure winner for families, classrooms, science study, and mentor text in compare/contrast science reporting. For anyone seeking more suggested titles, just type "birds" into the search box in that menu to the right >>>> and find many other picture books on this topic across all ages. Don't say I didn't warn you that I am a pushover for BIRDS!