Birds

FOLK TALES, FAIRY TALES, AND FANTASY

	Gerald McDermott’s Raven (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2001) is a trickster tale from the Pacific Northwest in which clever Raven feels sorry for the people living in the cold and dark, and so sets out to steal light and warmth from the Sky Chief. Illustrated with colorful native-American-style drawings. For ages 4-8.
	In James Mayhew’s Ella Bella Ballerina and Swan Lake (Barron’s Educational Series, 2011), Ella’s ballet class is preparing to dance Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake – and Ella, as she listens to the music, is magically transported into the world of Swan Lake, where she meets Odette, the swan princess, and the evil sorcerer who turned her into a bird. For ages 4-8.
	There are now many versions and editions of Hans Christian Andersen’s story of “The Ugly Duckling,” the homely and heckled little duck who grew up to be a beautiful swan. See Jerry Pinkney’s Caldecott Honor book The Ugly Duckling (HarperCollins, 1999).
	Jane Ray’s The Emperor’s Nightingale and Other Feathery Tales (Boxer Books, 2013) is a collection of 12 stories and poems from around the world, all featuring birds. Included, along with Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s Nightingale,” are Oscar Wilde’s “The Happy Prince,” “Jorinda and Joringel” from the Brothers Grimm, and Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussycat.” For ages 5 and up.
	In Katherine Paterson’s The Tale of the Mandarin Ducks (Puffin, 1995), set in medieval Japan, a greedy lord captures and cages a beautiful mandarin duck, who pines miserably for freedom and his mate. Yasuko, the little kitchen maid, releases the bird, and she and her friend, the one-eyed ex-warrior Shozo, are sentenced to death by their angry master – only to be saved by a pair of mysterious messengers. For ages 5 and up.
	By Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire, The Terrible Troll-bird (New York Review Children’s Collection, 2007), based on Norwegian folklore, is the story of a giant rooster and some even more threatening trolls, all soundly defeated by four brave children, Ola and his sisters Lina, Sina, and Trina. Wonderful folk-art-style illustrations. For ages 5-9.
	By Gennady Spirin, The Tale of the Firebird (Philomel, 2002) is a gorgeously illustrated picture-book version of the Russian folktale about the Tsar’s youngest son and his quest for the Firebird. Danger, adventures, a helpful wolf, the frightening Baba Yaga who lives in a cottage with chicken feet, a beautiful princess, and a wonderful bird. For ages 6-10.
	By R. L. LeFevers, Flight of the Phoenix (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010) stars ten-year-old Nathaniel Fludd, sent to live with his aunt after his parents are declared lost at sea – where he sets out to learn the family business of beastology. In this, the first of an extensive series (all crammed with mythological creatures), Nate and Aunt Phil travel to Arabia to witness the hatching of a phoenix egg. For ages 7-10.
	In Edward Ormondroyd’s David and the Phoenix (Purple House Press, 2001) – originally published in the 1950s – David explores the mountains behind his new North Carolina home and there discovers the Phoenix. The Phoenix is being pursued by a Scientist and had been studying Spanish, in preparation for fleeing to South America – but he decides to stay put for a while, and to take David’s education in hand. There follows a series of hilarious and often near-disastrous adventures, involving fauns, leprechauns, witches, griffins, and a Sea Monster – and ultimately a painful, but hopeful ending. I’ve loved this book for years, as it waffles in and out of print. At the moment, it’s in. It’s also available in used editions and inexpensively (even for free) on Kindle. For ages 8-12.
	Kathryn Lasky’s Guardians of Ga’hoole series is a gripping battle between good and evil, with owls. In Book 1 of the series, The Capture (Scholastic, 2003), a young owl named Soren has been living happily with his family, raised on tales of the Guardians of Ga’hoole, legendary owls famed for their noble deeds. Then he is knocked out of the nest and captured by evil owls from the Academy of St. Aegolius. There Soren and his new friend Gylfie struggle to survive, resist their captors, and secretly learn to fly. Many exciting sequels. For ages 8-12.
	By James Riordan, The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2008) – from the classic A Thousand and One Arabian Nights – is a 64-page illustrated account of astounding adventures with (among others) an island that turns out to be a whale, a sea monster, ogres, and a gigantic bird called a rookh.  For ages 9-12.
	Clem Martini’s The Mob (Kids Can Press, 2005) is the story of the Kinaars, a crow clan, now come together for their annual meeting at the Gathering Tree. Kyp, a headstrong young crow, is ostracized from the Flock for calling down a mob on an encroaching cat; when a blizzard hits, however, Kyp and friends – though they’ve flouted crow tradition – save the day. It’s a great story, and many of the behaviors of the crow clan are based upon those of real crows in the wild. Reminiscent of Watership Down. There are two sequels. For ages 10 and up.

BIRD POEMS

	Susan Stockdale’s Bring on the Birds (Peachtree Publishers, 2011) is a gorgeously illustrated rhyming account of the many different kinds of birds (“Swooping birds/Whooping birds/Birds with puffy chests/Dancing birds/Diving birds/Birds with fluffy crests”). An illustrated appendix explains just what each bird is. For ages 4-8.
	Jane Yolen’s Fine Feathered Friends (Boyds Mills Press, 2004) is a collection of fourteen poems about birds, each illustrated with a full-page color photograph. For ages 5-12.
	Deborah Ruddell’s Today at the Bluebird Café (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2007) is a terrific picture-book collection of 22 bird poems. (From “The Loon’s Laugh:” “A wail. A chuckle. A shriek at the moon./You pull up your covers. You hope it’s a loon.”) For ages 4-10.
	Douglas Florian’s on the wing (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000) is a beautifully illustrated collection of 21 bird poems, each dedicated to a different bird – among them “The Egret,” “Magnificent Frigate Birds,” “The Quetzal,” “The Emperor Penguins,” and “The Common Crow.” For ages 5-10.
	Paul Fleischman’s I Am Phoenix (HarperCollins, 1989) is a wonderful collection of “Poems for Two Voices,” all about birds. For ages 8-12.
	Edited by Billy Collins and illustrated by nature artist David Allen Sibley, Bright Wings (Columbia University Press, 2012) is a wide-ranging anthology of poems about birds, beginning with Stephen Vincent Benet’s “John James Audubon.” Also included are poems by Seamus Heaney, Marianne Moore, Mary Oliver, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, Delmore Schwartz, Henry David Thoreau, Robert Browning, and many more. For teenagers and adults.