Review by New York Times Review
THEY say New York City is a tough town, but don't believe it. Sure, millions arrive and depart unnoticed. But every once in a while a newcomer sweeps the city off its feet. Around 1991, a young redtailed hawk with a fourfoot wingspan and uncharacteristically lightcolored feathers showed up in Central Park and decided to stay. To the delight of birders and to reporters who know that you cannot go wrong with an animal story he and his mate built a roost at 927 Fifth Avenue, a luxury coop building that laid Central Park and its savory critters out beiow him like a fabulous smorgasbord. The arrangement was splendid for the bird, his mates over the years and the more than 20 youngsters they produced. But the winged squatters were a nuisance to the wealthy residents of the building, what with the occasional splat of droppings or carrion, and yet another New York eviction story was rolling, complete with noisy protests and celebrity testimonials. The Pale Male saga has gotten plenty of ink over the years. Hundreds of newspaper articles have been written, and Marie Winn who first reported the story for The Wall Street Journal wrote a book about the hawk and his mate, "Red Tails in Love," published in 1998. Could children's books be far behind? Of course not. "The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story," by Jeanette Winter (Harcourt), appeared last year, and then came "City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male" by Meghan McCarthy (Simon & Schuster). McCarthy's book, with its simple language and pleasing goggleeyed figures, elides many of the details of the story, including the attempts at eviction. Winter's account, too, is simply told, with stolid illustrations that might accompany a book about Native American legends. Both books are intended for younger children, and both have their pleasures. In "Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City," Janet Schulman tells the story of the city's most popular predator since Michael Milken with more detail and verbal grace. She doesn't offer new information about this urban nature story, but her language is sophisticated and wry. Less than 2 years old when he was first spotted, Schulman writes, Pale Male "hung around the park the way a teenager hangs out at a mall." The hawk "divebombed tasty pigeons and rats at their littercan snack bars. He chased after ducks and was spotted terrorizing squirrels, seemingly just for the fun of it." There's a thread of snarky social commentary, as well, about the attempts by the residents of the fancy building to get rid of the nest which, she writes, "seemed like such a heartless act coming from people living in their own wellfeathered nests." THE watercolor illustrations, by Meilo So, are luminous, the colors seeming to shine through the pages like a sunrise through stained glass. From the book's aerial perspective, the city buildings around Central Park are gray, and the fall colors jump out, as they must for the hawks flying above. Pale Male and his current mate, Lola, continue to live at their fancy Fifth Avenue building. Their offspring live all over the city now. And young readers can learn that even in the heart of the metropolis, wild nature is never far away. Pale Male and his mate, Lola, preside once again over 927 Fifth Avenue. John Schwartz, a reporter at The Times, writes about science and technology.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 27, 2009]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In the fall of 1991, a red-tailed hawk flew over Central Park. Unlike most of the migratory birds that only rest briefly in New York City's urban oasis, this bird stayed to make a home. The hawk, named Pale Male by excited birdwatchers, chose a mate and built a nest on a high window ledge on one of the city's most exclusive buildings. The well-heeled residents quickly tired of stepping over Pale Male's garbage, and they removed the nest. Animal protection organizations and the bird's thousands of fans protested, and Pale Male was allowed to return to the building, eventually producing 23 chicks. Schulman's leisurely, engaging story, offers far more detail than Jeannette Winter's The Tale of Pale Male (2007), and children may have questions about specific references, from Central Park sites to the Audubon Society. The stunning watercolor-and-pencil illustrations are both whimsical and elegant, and their beautiful contrasting views of the bird soaring above the wild park and the forest of skyscrapers will ignite children's curiosity in both urban animals and the caring people who help protect them. An author's note concludes.--Engberg, Gillian Copyright 2008 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Although the red-tailed hawk of Fifth Avenue has inspired at least two other picture books, this version stands out for its urbane, reportorial prose and stylish watercolors (according to jacket copy, Schulman wrote with So specifically in mind; the pair also worked together for A Bunny for All Seasons). To Schulman, Pale Male and his family, who became a cause cel?bre when they built a nest on a ledge outside one of Manhattan's toniest apartment buildings, deserve to be thought of as "true-blue New Yorkers-tough, resourceful, and determined to make it in the city." So seconds that emotion with deft, impressionistic brushstrokes and splashes of color reminiscent of fashion illustration; her images capture not only the cool majesty of the bird, but also the tentative half-flights of the chicks and the eclectic elan of the city that lobbied for them. The politics of the Pale Male story are confronted head-on: the privileged residents of 927 Fifth Avenue, who tried to evict Pale Male by destroying his nest, get a gentle but thorough drubbing. Formidably dressed, clutching highballs and generally scowling, they're in clear violation of Big Apple spirit (the author notes that they took advantage of "a time when many conservation and wildlife laws were being relaxed by President George W. Bush's administration"). By the final page, even readers who live far from Manhattan will appreciate that Pale Male's significance and stature rise well beyond those of media darling. Ages 6-12. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Compared to Meghan McCarthy's City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male (S & S) and Jeanette Winter's The Tale of Pale Male: A True Story (Harcourt, both 2007), this book about the first red-tailed hawk to take up residence in New York City's Central Park since its construction in 1857 is more suitable for older readers. Schulman supplies many details missing from the earlier versions, resulting in a more accurate and leisurely story. For example, children who rightly were puzzled about how apartment-building owners were able to destroy and remove Pale Male's nest will learn that they took advantage of newly relaxed rules under the Migratory Bird Treaty. So's illustrations play up the conflict between the upscale building's residents, annoyed with the mess of nesting birds and their garbage, and the growing number of New Yorkers who rallied to force them to allow the birds to nest again. The artist's evocative watercolor and colored pencil pictures perfectly capture the power and grace of the majestic raptors. From the eye-catching endpapers, showing exactly what birders see when they spot a red-tailed hawk in the sky, to the energetic city scenes, readers experience New Yorkers' excitement about Pale Male and his various mates and their offspring and understand why his story has captured the interest of so many people.-Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR (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
(Primary, Intermediate) This third recent picture book about the red-tailed hawks that have nested on a posh building across from Central Park since the 1990s is the best so far (see also Jeanette Winter's Tale of Pale Male, rev. 3/07, and Meghan McCarthy's City Hawk, rev. 1/08). Narrating in an admirably easygoing and lucid style, Schulman tells Pale Male's story in greater detail (including, for instance, an earlier, aborted nesting attempt and the loss of his first mate), seamlessly integrating it into the context of other city life, animal and human. Though she describes the avid bird watchers and the affection for the hawks that seems to have been shared by all save the building's owners, her primary focus is on the birds themselves, even when recounting the media circus that ensued after "conservation and wildlife laws were...relaxed" in 2003 and the owners took the opportunity to destroy the long-established nest. With impressionistic virtuosity, Meilo So captures the city's rich variety, from the park's welcoming green to the austere tones of its more heroic architecture; from a diverse crowd of placard-toting New Yorkers ("Honk 4 Hawks"; "Preserve family values, Bring Back the Nest") to the birds themselves. Her point of view varies from curbside to hawk's-eye; her watercolor-and-colored-pencil palette is keyed to the lovely russets and creams of Pale Male's plumage, enlivened with splashes of intense color. Appended are an author's note and five "Sources for Further Study," including two websites and a DVD. (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 lengthy text tells the story, again, of the red-tailed hawk that thrilled the birdwatchers of Central Park and ruffled the feathers of the residents of 927 Fifth Avenue. The fierce predator's eye that gazes out at readers from the front jacket give the book its raison d''tre: So's exquisite watercolors. Her swift brushstrokes take on an energy all of their own as they depict Pale Male terrorizing pigeons, tending to his chicks and serenely taking up residence on the luxury apartment building that became the locus of so much controversy. Schulman's story is more complete than either Pale Male, by Jeanette Winter, or City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male (both 2007), which each told more compact slices of the hawk's adventures. Readers will learn of Pale Male's past romances and of his chicks' successes on their own, making this a worthwhile next step for youngsters captivated by either of the two earlier books. It is undeniably duplicative, however, and stands out much more for its illustrations than for the story. (author's note, bibliography) (Picture book/nonfiction. 6-12) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
