Whether your reader is currently interested in birds or not, he will be after the teaser on the very first page!
Did You Know?Who wouldn't want to keep reading to find out? All answers are revealed within the pages of Hatch!
There are birds much taller than any human being, there are birds that can fit on a child's palm. Birds can make nests that weigh as much as a car or are smaller than a walnut. ... birds ... can fly as high as a jet plane (eight miles up)...
Excellent for participatory reading, the pages follow a particular format. First, a detailed painting of eggs on a white background with the query,
Can you guess whose eggs these are?Next, the following page offers several clues inside a colored "bubble" that mirrors the shape of the eggs on the facing page.
...A Major League Baseball team adopted its name and colors from this bird. ...Finally, in a detailed two-page spread, the bird is revealed in its native habitat. Munro's pen and watercolor paintings are detailed and accurate in color and scale. More facts are included in the same artfully placed "bubble," and adding to the fun is a text box inset at the bottom of the page, offering a chance to look and find other creatures,
also in this woodland habitat: coyote, red-tailed hawk, porcupine, turtle.
Hatch! is a big book - more than 11" square. For that reason, a life-sized depiction of the world's largest egg (the ostrich's, at up to 7" long), would and does fit easily on a single page. My only wish is that all of the egg paintings were to scale. While it's interesting to see the detailed coloration of each egg type (which admittedly would be difficult to show on the pea-sized hummingbird egg), it's somewhat confusing to see a 5 1/2" inch egg described on the facing page as "about the size of a pea." However, this reflects only my own opinion, which may not be shared by others and certainly does not detract from Hatch!, which I predict will not only be a crowd-pleaser, but may also hatch a few bird-watchers!
Today's Nonfiction Monday host is Practically Paradise.
