Growing Up Humming

by Mike Spinak

Paperback, 2012

Status

Available

Collection

Publication

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (2012), 44 pages

Description

Fans of David Attenborough will enjoy experiencing the wonders of nature through Mike Spinak's pictures and words. Imagine witnessing hummingbird chicks being raised on the nest from front row seats, with every step shown as it unfolds, accompanied by fundamental explanations of the "whys" behind what you're seeing. In Mike Spinak's Growing Up Humming, you'll see hummingbirds as you've never seen them before. The elder chick has flown from the nest, and now follows her mother while learning how to live like an adult. The younger chick hasn't yet fledged, and life will be easier for her mother when both are flying. What happens when a mother hummingbird wants her chick to leave the nest, but the chick isn't ready? This fact-filled, true story, photo book shows the answers in a heartwarming tale the entire family can enjoy. "...delightful for persons of any age ... a breathtaking microcosm that few people have witnessed and which somehow makes you feel blessed ... marvelous, awesome story." - P.B. Sharp, Amazon Top 500 Reviewer "The photos are so captivating you just want to gaze at them for hours rather than turn the page to continue the story." - Katie H. "The story itself is wondrous - Mike simply wrought words from inspiration that the hummingbirds gave him." - Nataliya Field "I gave a copy to my 10 year old niece who enjoyed it so much that she read the whole thing front to back in one setting (and then spent a couple of hours wowing the adults with hummingbird facts)." - James Beswick, Amazon Top 1000 Reviewer… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jimmaclachlan
Wow! I'm jealous. I love to take photos of hummingbirds & have some pretty good ones, but nothing of this quality nor of them growing in the nest. Fantastic. Also, it is about an Anna's hummingbird & all we have around here are Ruby Throats.

The book is aimed at kids, but is fine for adults, too.
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The language is perfect for kids, clear & concise without being stupid, & the detail is amazing. We follow two hummingbird chicks from 2 weeks old to when they fly off the nest a week later. Their growth in this week is amazing & some of the pictures are marked up to point out details. I skimmed through it the first time in 10 minutes & have since gone back through it a couple more times. It would make a fantastic picture book, but I'd really like to see it in large format. It would be worth the extra cost.

If I have any complaint, it is that I'd like to have seen a couple of pictures of them before they were 2 weeks old, but maybe those weren't very nice to look at or even possible, judging by the camera angle - a minor detail.

I was given this book free for posting a review. I'm not sure what other formats it is available in, but I got mine as either a hi-res or low-res Adobe PDF. I read both & suggest the low-res option. The 43mb high res doesn't display any better than the 5mb low-res file & is somewhat slower, depending on your computer & connection speed. Most of us don't have displays or printers that will gain anything by going hi-res, either.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.
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LibraryThing member Kaethe
Whoa. Natasha would have lost her mind over this a few years ago. Most kids picture books are neither so detailed in text, nor so well illustrated. They tend to rely on broad information and stock photos and a child can go through a huge number of, say, bat books, without picking up many specifics
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at all. Spinak shows two young hummingbirds, thirteen and fifteen days-old, and follows them until both have left the nest, in just over a week. Day by day you can see their feathers coming in, their beaks lengthening and straightening, and their mother getting tired of it all. The close up photography is amazing.

I think both kids and parents would enjoy this enormously, even on multiple readings.

Download provided by author for review.
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Original language

English

Physical description

44 p.; 8 inches

ISBN

1480165220 / 9781480165229
Page: 0.1889 seconds