Thunder Birds - a review

Now that the Cybils judging is completed, I can finally release this review that I wrote last month. Thunder Birds was a finalist in the 2011 Cybils Nonfiction Picture Book category.

Arnosky, Jim. 2011. Thunder Birds. New York: Sterling.

In Thunder Birds, Jim Arnosky profiles “only the largest and most powerful birds” – eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, vultures, herons, egrets, pelicans, loons, cormorants and gannets. No matter where one lives, there is surely something familiar and something to be learned in this attractive nonfiction picture book for older readers.

The chapters are an appealing combination of “book knowledge” and experiential knowledge unique to Arnosky and his wife, Deanna.  Regarding owls, Arnosky writes,

Prey animals are taken suddenly and without warning in the midst of whatever they happen to be doing.  Only in bright moonlight might an owl’s intended victim sense what is coming, when it sees the hunter’s large shadow moving across the ground.
At night in the forest, while I was taking flash photos of owls, one of the big birds swooped down toward me from behind, lightly brushing my head with its wings.  I felt it and then I saw it, but I never heard it coming.

How thrilling to imagine such a close encounter with a bird that many have never actually seen in the wild.

Writing, of course, is not Arnosky’s only talent.  He is an accomplished naturalist and artist. Each section of the book is illustrated with detailed pencil sketches and notes, similar to ones that might be found in a field notebook. Some, like the eagle foot, are drawn to scale.  Illustrations created with acrylic paints and white chalk offer  vivid depictions of the birds in their native habitats, many are life-sized.  There are four foldout pages, including two, which are double foldouts.  Many of the illustrations have textual overlays containing additional information on length, wingspan, etc.  Particularly helpful to the aspiring bird-watcher are the silhouette illustrations for identifying birds in flight by their shapes.  Also included are an Author’s Note, bibliography, and curiously, a metric equivalent chart.

Whether writing fact or fiction, Jim Arnosky’s love of the natural world is apparent in everything he does. Highly recommended.

I'm a Turkey

Arnosky, Jim. 2009. I'm a Turkey! New York: Scholastic.

This book has a free mp3 download of Jim Arnosky, pickin' and strummin' and singin' along to his latest, I'm a Turkey! Fun, colorful and full of turkey facts, I'm a Turkey is entertaining as well as educational,

But we must be careful, can't be hasty, 'cuz lots of critters find us...TASTY!

The acrylic, double-spread illustrations are a perfect mix of natural, yet fanciful. Jim Arnosky is a true nature-lover, and he's a pretty fine musician, too! Perfect fun for a Thanksgiving storytime!

The Pirates of Crocodile Swamp

Arnosky, Jim. 2009. The Pirates of Crocodile Swamp. New York: Putnam.

*Spoiler alert*

I don't like spoilers, but I feel like I have to write one for The Pirates of Crocodile Swamp by Jim Arnosky. If you're not familiar with Jim Arnosky, he's a prolific writer of children's nature books, mostly Juvenile non-fiction and Easy fiction. I picked up his latest, thinking that I'd enjoy an adventure book with a nature theme - always looking for that perfect "boy" book. I expected from the cover art that the "pirates" of Crocodile Swamp would be two young boys, but I did not expect that they would be on the run from their father - a drunk, kidnapper, murderer, and abuser.

Unlike Kathy Appelt's, The Underneath, which couches its violence in an opaque mysticism, the violence in The Pirates of Crocodile Swamp (although not a focal point of the book) is real and urgent,

The day Terry died, Dad had come home early from work, drunker than ever. He
staggered in... Jack and I watched the whole thing from the living room. I can
still see Dad standing wobbly at the top of the stairs, cursing and mumbling
that we were bleeding him dry. We were chains around his legs, and he was tired
of working all day to feed our grubby faces.

The story is told from 9-year-old, Jack's point of view. After the boys are kidnapped by Dad, and Mom has likely been murdered too, they steal Dad's money and escape to a swamp in the Florida Keys where they live in a boat abandoned by Cuban refugees. In the book's conclusion, Dad finds the boys in Crocodile Swamp. As they fight against him for their very lives, a large crocodile attracted by the struggle, swims up and deals Dad a fatal bite to the leg. The boys pull him from the crocodile's jaws and place him among the mangroves. Dad makes his peace with them as he lays bleeding to death. Deciding not to report the death, Jack and Sandy set Dad's body adrift in the Gulf Stream.

I don't write this because I didn't enjoy the book; it is certainly an action-packed adventure novel full of admiration for nature and appreciative of nature's quietest moments, such as a moonlight encounter with feeding manatees,

We were about halfway across the bay when something splashed near Jack's oar.
Then a great bulge formed in the water and the back of a huge animal rolled
up to the surface. We pulled in our oars and dove for the floor. I said a quick
prayer, expecting that we were going to be swallowed by a whale. Jack was
hunkered down beside me, but when he heard a watery snort coming from
the animals in the water, he recognized the sound. 'Manatees,' he whispered.
We peeked over the side of the boat. There were three animals in the water,
each one as big as our boat. They looked like enormous gray footballs.
"Manatees," Jack said again. "Real live manatees! Get up, Sandy. They won't
hurt us." We crawled back up on the seat and watched the manatees in the
moonlight. One at a time they lifted their heads, and when they did, we
could hear them breathing.

The quiet splendor of nature creates a stark contrast to the rage of the boys' father.

Arnosky imparts useful and interesting facts about wildlife, nature, boating and survival, but they're integrated so seamlessly into the story, that readers won't even realize that they're learning. A rousing tale of survival and adventure, but not for the squeamish.