The Bird Book

Gr 1-5--This book is all readers have come to expect from this pair. The bold and detailed illustrations pop out from the stark white backgrounds, surrounded by informational text laid out in a handwritten-style font. The information starts with the general approach--"What is a Bird?"--and continues through anatomical features, senses, flight, and their evolution from dinosaurs. How they nest, feed, defend themselves, and migrate is all included, as is a discussion of the modern environmental stresses on birds. As with the previous books, this one is jam-packed with comprehensive information and fun facts alike. A table in the back of the book outlines the size, diet, and range of all the birds represented in the book. It's high quality in illustration and information presented. VERDICT Purchase for school and public library nonfiction collections and wherever the team's previous work has been well received.--Jennifer Noonan

Via avian trivia and technical illustrations in cut-paper collage, the longtime collaborators (The Shark Book) invite browsers to a visually jaunty, loosely organized compendium positioned for budding bird nerds. The late Jenkins assembles paper snipped and torn into naturalistic portraits of some of the world's 10,000-plus bird species: a blue-gray shoebill stork with its massive sand-colored beak, a pileated woodpecker clinging to a tree, a speckled Humboldt penguin leaving a trail of bubbles in mottled blue seawater, and extinct "ancient giants," including a terror bird, teratorn, and moa. A labeled American robin models bird basics, including hollow bones for lightweight flight, a multipurpose bill, and feathery insulation. Double spreads spotlight single specimens in a shared space against a clean white backdrop, a format that lends itself to uncontextualized captions. General notes reveal that flocks "sense the Earth's magnetic field" to migrate and "see ultraviolet light" that humans don't; like many species, "sandhill cranes choose a mate for life." A four-page fine-print appendix details covered birds' "size, diet, and range." Meticulous collages are the star attraction of a catalog that recommends learning "as much as we can about these remarkable creatures" in order to help birds survive. Ages 6-10. (Dec.)

"[S]pectacularly realistic collage illustrations . . . Another feather in the veteran co-authors' cap." — Kirkus Reviews