Review by Booklist Review
Gr. 1-3. This colorful book offers children a close-up look at bluebirds and their young. In the spring, a mated pair weaves a nest in a birdhouse. The female lays four eggs, the chicks hatch, and the nestlings grow. First leaving their house for short flights, they gradually learn to live on their own. A sidebar called "Peek Inside an Egg" shows three stages of embryonic development and explains what is actually happening at each stage. The large-scale, colored pencil drawings with watercolor washes will draw children to the book and help them visualize a bird that most have never seen. Chrustowski, the author-illustrator of Bright Beetle 0 (2000), shows a fine-tuned sense of what interests children, the ability to express it in simple words, and a talent for illustrating animals in a way that is both accurate and appealing. The book's last page comments on the comeback of bluebirds after the construction of nest boxes and the three types of bluebirds found in North America. --Carolyn Phelan Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
On the heels of his Army Ant Parade, Rick Chrustowski examines a clutch of young bluebird hatchlings as they learn to fly in Blue Sky Bluebird. One reluctant bluebird is depicted taking flight for the first time. The book features a sidebar, "Peek Inside an Egg," that shows the embryo's development, and concludes by discussing the resurgence of the bluebird population as well as variants in the species across the nation. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2-4-An introduction to the life cycle of the bluebird from spring mating, nest building, and egg laying to the southward migration in fall. The brief, readable text is so interesting and informative that it will easily hold the attention of children not yet capable of reading it on their own. Adult bluebirds raise two families each year-in spring and in late summer. Once the fledglings from the first brood have learned to fly and to hunt their own food, they help the parents to raise their younger siblings; then they all fly south together. Using layer upon layer of colored pencil over watercolor wash, Chrustowski shows each step in the cycle in bold, vividly colored illustrations so finely detailed that the softness of the birds' downy heads and breasts is clearly visible. Proper terminology (embryo, nestling, fledgling, clutch) is included within the text; stages of development from yolk sac to embryo to chick are shown and briefly described. A final page of notes provides further information. Although no sources are listed, this finely crafted presentation of fact and artwork exemplifies the best in informational literature.-Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
From cozy nest box in spring to a mid-summer storm, and on to the autumn chill that sends birds south, the life cycle of a bluebird family is described and pictured. The inviting illustrations accurately but softly portray the nest building, bright blue eggs, hatchlings, fledglings, and the pastoral landscape. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A family of Eastern bluebirds is born and raised over the course of a summer in this clear offering for young readers. The narrative focuses on one representative clutch, giving enough individual details to enliven the text ("Sometimes the females use their little brother as a step stool. . . . ") while at the same time resisting anthropomorphization and presenting the essential facts of bluebird behavior. The illustrations are bright (occasionally overbright) colored pencil drawings over watercolor wash, a technique that lends itself to remarkably crisp outlines and details--the newly hatched chicks are wonderfully ugly. The babies eventually fledge, learn to find their own food, and then help their parents raise another brood, before they all head south for the winter. A page of "Bluebird News" at the end presents additional facts but regrettably tells nothing of the author's research method or further sources for bluebird information. (Picture book/nonfiction. 4-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
