Birds

Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek, who collaborated on the 1999 picture-book Oh!, team up once again for Birds, a lovely tribute to our avian friends. Narrated by a young girl (something revealed at the very end), the simple narrative highlights the diversity of bird life in the world, from owls to

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seagulls, songbirds to crows. Their frenetic energy, dizzying flight patterns, and mysterious comings and goings, are also described.

Less of a storybook, than a contemplative celebration, Birds pairs Henkes' text with Dronzek's gorgeous acrylic illustrations, and contrary to my expectations as a big Kevin Henkes fan, it was the artwork that really won me over. Whether depicting colorful songbirds all perched on the same tree, curious crows on their own page-sized color panels, or a winter landscape with a single bird, Dronzek's paintings just worked, perfectly capturing the brief snippets of text with which they were paired. I think my favorite was the scene in which a flock of birds all fly away from the same tree at once, creating a scene in which it looks like the tree is yelling "Surprise!" Definitely one young would-be ornithologists will want to peruse.

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Wisconsin author and illustrator team up for this beginner's book of birds that explores color, size, and behavior.

It is about a little girl that noticed that some birds, that she sees through the window, have some things in common with her. Bright colors.

Kevin Henkes, Birds, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 2009.

Birds is a beautifully illustrated book featuring the concepts of shape, size, and color. The book gradually builds the concepts - from birds of all colors, to birds of all shapes and sizes, to clouds shaped like birds, and birds that look

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like leaves. The illustrations are drawn in acrylic paint giving it a soft texture with colors that catch the eye. Birds is a great read aloud for children 5-7 and sparks imagination and curiosity about the world around them.

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The illustrations in this book are bold and colorful. The text gives the pictures a chance to amuse as well as inform its audience.

This book about birds for preschoolers combines pages on colors and sizes of birds with musings about birds' sctivities. Bright acrylic paintings which look like pastels illustrate the words. Younger children aged 2-5 will enjoy this book.

Review: A little girl looks out her window and comments on the different shapes, sizes, colors, and movements of birds, while trying to figure out what it would be like to be a bird.
Genre: Informational
Critique: This is an example of informational text, because it is giving general information

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about the characteristics and behaviors of birds. There isn't specific facts in this book, but rather more thoughtful thinking about all kinds of birds. Still, what is here is simple and accurate. The illustrations also add a very happy and eye-catching element to this book.

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This book is appropriate for students in kinder and first grade. It explains that there are all types of birds in different shapes, sizes and colors. The illustrations are vibrant and simple and keep to the context of the story. The story also adds whimsical questions on where do birds go when it

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rains, or what the sky would look like if birds left their color in the sky. I like how simple this book is and it has a great deal of learning opportunities and projects that could come from it.

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I liked that this book was both informative and promotes using your imagination. Based on the cover I was surprised at the quality of the illustrations when I opened the book. The artist was successful at drawing a variety of various images.

Birds come in different shapes, sizes, and even colors. Birds are everywhere! But where do they go when it rains? Birds can sing and fly! Birds are amazing to watch! One thing we have in common with birds is we all sing! This is great to show children when teaching about birds.

3yrs.-6yrs.
This book is really fun, children can learn that birds come on different sizes and colors, the pictures are fantastic!

This book is about birds. It tells the differemt things that birds do.

The book about Birds is an informational book about birds. Children are able to learn about what colors birds are, and where they might go throughout the day. This book is very bright and colorful and inviting and would interest any child who reads it.
I would recommend this book when teaching a

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lesson on different animals. It's a very basic book but also teachers children a lot about birds.

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My son picked out this one at the library for reading, and it picked my curiosity when I saw it was by Kevin Henkes. The pictures in Birds are not in the same style as his other books however, in fact this book is illustrated by wife Laure Dronzek, in rich color, thick line.
While we both liked the

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pictures, I myself found the simple text quite interesting and full of surprises. My son actually ended up reading most of the text by himself, drawn in by the simplicity in the words and by the child like speculations taking place on the pages. And, maybe it's not so much a book about birds as it is musings spun from thoughts on birds.
This is a lovely, lovely, lovely book, which can be enjoyed on more than one level.

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I love this book I read it to a few little ones and they had so much fun. They could talk about all the different colors and sizes of birds. I got the opportunity to tell them the names of those different birds and what makes them special. I think the opportunities for young ones to learn from this

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book are awesome.

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A little girl explains all about birds.

The illustrations in this book allow children to comprehend the book material about birds. Without the illustrations, children would have a hard time picturing the given information about birds different sizes and colors. I really enjoyed that the author added a picture of a flamingo and owl to

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show readers that they are also birds. Many students generalize their information about birds to the birds that they may just see outside their windows. The text features in this book also help attract the readers attention. For example, the author wrote "Birds can be BIG, or little, or any size in between." When the author wrote "big", she used a bigger font and all capitalized letters. When the author wrote "little", she decreased the font size. The central message in this book is teaching readers about birds and their different features that they have.

Summary: In this book, the author describes the different features that birds have. She describes their different colors, shapes, sizes, and flying patterns. The author then describes what clouds would look like if they were birds, and what the sky would look like if birds made marks with their tail feathers while they flew. At the end of the book, the girl/narrator in the story relates to a bird because they can both sing.

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I used this book with my reading student and she loved it. But the text is mainly driven by the pictures. Same author who wrote the Chrysanthemum books.

This picture book starts off by identifying the colors of birds as a little girl looks out the window at them. The story then goes on to depict the different types of birds. There shape, size, and feathers are all reviewed. This story does not have a plot or setting it seems, but just goes on to

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describe birds and what they sky would look like if their feathers left tracks. The end of the story makes the girl describing birds realize that she can pretend to be a bird and fly but that she can actually sing just like the birds do. This is an realistic fiction book perfect for younger grades wanting to use their imagination.

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This book describes all kids of birds. It uses lots of adjectives to help kids understand the different types. It also lets you use your imagination when you pretend you are a bird. Genre is realistic fiction.

Birds by Kevin Henkes
Colors, shapes and sounds of the many birds the little girl finds they share something in common.
Starts out with the birds singing, and all different colors. Shapes are different also.
She wonders what the clouds would look like if they used feathers for clouds in the sky.
As

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this is an audio book they also describe what they see. Like how it ends.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

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Story gives basic information of birds, colors, habitats, feathers, shapes and names. Elementary informative bird book.

This is an informational book about birds. It tells about different sizes and shapes of birds. The book also talks about things that birds like to do. It is a very simple book and I would definitely use it in primary grades.

This is an informational book about birds. It tells about different sizes and shapes of birds. The book also talks about things that birds like to do. It is a very simple book and I would definitely use it in primary grades.