Books
Middle Grade Non-Fiction
Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard

Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard

4.7

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Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard

Author(s)

Annette LeBlanc Cate

Publisher

Candlewick Press

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

March 12, 2013

ISBN

978-0763645618

Buy This Book

You don’t have to own binoculars and know a bunch of fancy Latin names to watch birds! No matter where you live, they’re in your neighborhood — just look up.

This conversational, humorous introduction to bird-watching encourages kids to get outdoors with a sketchbook and really look around. Quirky full-color illustrations portray dozens of birds chatting about their distinctive characteristics, including color, shape, plumage, and beak and foot types, while tongue-in-cheek cartoons feature banter between birds, characters, and the reader ("Here I am, the noble spruce grouse. In a spruce grove. Eatin’ some spruce. Yep."). Interactive and enjoyable tips bring an age-old hobby to new life for the next generation of bird-watchers.

Editor review

1 review

The Endlessly Interesting World of Birds--For Kids

June 28, 2013

Overall rating

4.7

Writing Style

5.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

5.0

Learning Value

4.0

Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard pulls out all the stops when it comes to exploratory reading. Each page is filled with information on different birds as well as creative, fun drawings and comical dialogue from the birds themselves.

The book begins with where to start for any beginner birdwatcher, and encourages the reader to explore his or her own environment--no matter where it might be--city or country, apartment or house. There are birds to discover and learn about everywhere around us, and they are therefore an unending source of inspiration (drawing) and education for life!

Categorized by color, shape, beak shape, crest, what they eat, feathers, and more, author Annette LeBlanc Cate demonstrates quite the knack for drawing children in to this fascinating hobby. Each page is filled with silly statements or conversations by the birds themselves, reflecting a lot of the personalities we often assign to birds we are familiar with. This books is almost like an informative comic strip and makes me laugh every time I read it to my daughters. My eldest especially enjoys this book and it is one we have picked up over and over again. She is learning and excited, and this book has awakened an interest in birds that may otherwise have remained dormant! Look Up! is a fantastic introduction to birding for anyone, and I'm happy to have it in our library.