I Dreamed of Flying Like a Bird: My Adventures Photographing Wild Animals from a Helicopter (review)

Nonfiction is filled with some stellar nature photography these days, so young people have the chance to get up close and personal with all kinds of wildlife. Robert Haas takes a different tack here, describing some of his experiences in capturing images of wild animals in groups from overhead, while strapped precariously into a helicopter. The text begins with an appreciation of the work of the helicopter pilots who make this photography possible, then goes on to more detailed accounts of photography over land ranging from Botswana to Alaska and over sea ranging from the coast of Mexico to the deeps off of Greenland. The details are unusual and intriguing (Haas points out, for instance, that it's a lot easier to find animals in mud or snow where you can follow their tracks), and the quick, adventure-touched descriptions are easily readable. They're also easily skippable for those just here for the pictures, because the photographs are mesmerizing: from overhead, groups of animals fall into intricate tessellations with stunning graphic impact (the rump-first view of dozens of assembled zebras brings all the ocular uncertainty of a Magic Eye image). The pictures are informative as well as beautiful, as they convey with silent power the animals' milieu and the way they place themselves in it, a concept difficult to acquire from a face-to-face view. Readers moving up from Nic Bishop's nature titles (Nic Bishop Lizards, reviewed above, etc.) or National Geographic's Face to Face wildlife series (Face to Face with Elephants, BCCB 1/09) will find plenty to pore over here, and they may peer down longingly on their next trip aloft. A glossary, a list of resources (that's mainly promotion for other National Geographic materials), and an index are appended.