Parrots over Puerto Rico - a review

Roth, Susan L. and Cindy Trumbore. 2013. Parrots Over Puerto Rico. New York: Lee & Low.


I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to nonfiction books about the natural world, I prefer photography to artistic renderings.  Of course, there are always exceptions.  Jim Arnosky's, Thunderbirds (Sterling, 2011) and Martin Jenkins', Can We Save the Tiger? (Candlewick, 2011) come to mind.

Parrots Over Puerto Rico, however, is an extraordinary exception. Using highly detailed collage art, and employing many textured and brightly colored materials, Susan L. Roth has created a book that accurately portrays the colors of the island and evokes the stunning beauty of the endangered parrots of Puerto Rico. Designed to be read "portrait style," the collages cover about 2/3 of each double-spread layout.  Cindy Trumbore's narrative appears in a simple black font in the bottom third of the collage against a plain, complementary-colored background.

As stunning as it is, the artwork is not the only thing to love about Parrots over Puerto Rico. An astute teacher's dream, Parrots takes a holistic view of the parrots' rapid decline and slow slog back to viability in the wild.  As the story of the American Bison is forever entwined with the story of American Westward expansion, the Puerto Rican's parrot story is entwined with that of the Tainos, the Spaniards, and the Americans, as well as that of invasive species, and natural disasters like Hurricane Hugo.

Existing for millions of years on the island of Puerto Rico, they once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and by 1975, had dwindled to only 13.

Above the treetops of Puerto Rico flies a flock or parrots as green as their island home.  If you look up from the forest, and you are very lucky, you might catch the bright blue flashes of their flight feathers and hear their harsh call.

These are Puerto Rican parrots.  They lived on this island for millions of years, and then they nearly vanished from the earth forever.  This is their story.

An Afterword contains photographs and information on the Puerto Rican Parrot Recovery Program.  Also included is a timeline of Important Dates in the History of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican Parrots, and Author's Sources.

Among others, Parrots Over Puerto Rico can boast of these awards:

• Starred Reviews in: Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, Booklist, The Horn Book Magazine
• Original Art 2013, Society of Illustrators
• Books for Youth Editors' Choice 2013, Booklist 
• Junior Library Guild Selection

You can see a preview of Parrots Over Puerto Rico on Lee & Low's website, however, it doesn't do the book justice, as the preview is in landscape mode, while the actual bound book reads lengthwise.  Still, it's worth a gander.


 Check out this short video if you'd like to see an actual Puerto Rican parrot.




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Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story

It's Nonfiction Monday and I'm pleased to be today's host location!

Yezerski, Thomas F., 2011. Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

From the top of the Empire State Building in New York City, you can see a flat, wet place in New Jersey.  Some people think it's just smelly swamps.  Others think of it as where the airport or malls or stadiums are.  Most people think it's not much of a place at all.  This place is called the Meadowlands.

Though the word meadow conjures thoughts of an idyllic landscape, to many New Jerseyans and nearby New Yorkers, the word Meadowlands does not.  Instead, thoughts of Giants Stadium, Super Fund sites, and, according to the governor, the state's ugliest building come to mind.  But as New Jersey resident Thomas F. Yezerski points out in Meadowlands: A Wetlands Survival Story, the Meadowlands is and always has been a changing place.

Yezerski begins the Meadowlands' story several hundred years ago when the Meadowlands was "20,000 acres of marshes, swamps, and bogs that were home to many different plants and animals," as well as the native people, the Lenni Lenape. Throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, the area went through various changes - most of them for the worse.  Landfills, chemical dumping, noxious smells, overcrowding, filthy water - the picture looked grim, and the Garden State's new reputation as a smelly place along the Turnpike was fixed in the nation's consciousness.

But even after being dug out, filled in, run over, and dumped on, the wetlands still showed signs of life.  The Hackensack River still flowed south.  The tide still rose north from the Atlantic Ocean.  The river and tide still met in the Meadowlands twice a day, as they had for 10,000 years.  Because they did, the ecosystem had a chance to recover.

Meadowlands is a hopeful story. A story of the return of fish, birds, and even the marshland itself.  It's a story of possibility, of the positive effect that people can have when they are so determined.  Yezerski's love for the area is apparent. His pen and watercolor illustrations show that he has spent many hours and days in the Meadowlands, capturing its essence. Realistic detailing is present throughout, particularly in the birds, which approach guide book quality.  Each double spread features a rectangular painting set in a frame of white space.  Related icon-sized images surround the main illustration. Text appears plainly at the bottom of each page - no more than 4 lines per page.

The final pages show the fragile combination of a now bird-filled marshland located within one of the nation's most densely populated urban areas. The cover art, featuring a snowy egret in this urban wilderness is stunning.

Meadowlands should be required reading for all New Jersey schoolchildren, but it has value beyond New Jersey as well. It spreads the hopeful message:  If we can do it, so can you. Where there is water flowing, there is life.

Highly recommended.

Author's Note, Selected Bibliography, and Selected Web Sites are included.

You can learn more about the Meadowlands at the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission site or the many sites devoted to the Meadowlands' varied commercial ventures.

Link your Nonfiction Monday post below.  If you're not posting today or just stopped by to read, please check out the other great nonfiction posts linked below.  In either case, thanks for stopping by.

Earth Hour

Earth Hour - Switch off your lights for one hour on 3/28/2009 at 8:30pm local time.

Not children's lit, but a great message on the impact that a single person, even a child, can have on the environment.

10 Things I Can Do to Help My World

Walsh, Melanie. 2008. 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

I love this book! With its bright colors, double-spread illustrations, lift-the-flaps, and simple messages, it's a real winner!

Even the youngest of listeners can rally to the environmental cause with this eye-catching book. The simplest of messages can be read to the very young,

"I use... [lift the flap!] both sides of the paper."

in smaller print, (artfully positioned to become part the illustration) there is a slightly more complex message,

"If everybody did this, it would greatly reduce the number of trees we use to make paper."

This book is fun with a purpose! Check it out!