189 Canaries

A quiet story that savors the historical details of a bird’s trans-Atlantic journey. 

In this English-language debut by German author Böge, comprehensive prose in the third-person perspective closely follows the journey of one canary from the Harz Mountains; he works in a silver mine and sings at night until being sold to a bird dealer, who takes him on a journey across the Atlantic Ocean with 188 other canaries: "The light looks gray under the canvas cover. They can hear the gravel under the dealer's boots." Mixed-media illustrations by Klever are richly colored and have a fantastical, folkloric feel, following the gently expressive, bright yellow bird. While younger readers may find the dense paragraphs less appealing, older children partial to illustrated animal-centered fiction will find much to appreciate. Back matter includes detailed notes on the history of canaries. Ages 6-10. (Sept.)

Gr 1-3--Lush illustrations and text full of sensory descriptions make this narrative nonfiction story of how canaries came to America a real pleasure to read and share with young readers. The story follows the journey of one canary from its mountain home in the Harz Mountains in Austria, where it accompanies silver miners during the day and sings its lovely tunes to a family at night. A bird dealer comes to take the canary, along with 188 others (189 referring to the number of small bird cages that will fit in layers of a large backpack) on a long journey on foot over the mountains, then to a train, then a ship headed across the Atlantic, and finally to a pet store in New York City, where the bird meets its new human family. Back matter includes a brief history of the birds, originally from the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, a picture of the many varieties of the bird, as well as a map showing the route of the journey from Europe to North America. Human characters default to white; the vast majority of the illustrations depict the birds and imaginative drawings of the canary, the surroundings, and even the birdsong. VERDICT A delightful story of a little-known piece of history, with the added bonus of a fun math connection for students studying multiplication.--Sue Morgan, Hillsborough City Sch. Dist., Hillsborough, CA