Have You Heard the Nesting Bird? by Rita Gray (review)

As a brother and sister play outside on the wild, spacious grounds of their country home, they are aware of the songs of the many birds that perch and dart around them: “Woodpecker calls from a tree with a hole,/ cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk-cuk/ Starling sings from a metal pole./ whistle-ee-wee-tree.” They are perplexed, though, at the silence of the robin that nests in the tree: “‘Not a single tweet or trill.’ ‘This nesting bird is so still!’” The days’ avian cacophony gives way to a deep, peaceful night, and in the morning there’s a bustle of activity around the nest—tapping, rustling, peeping: “The baby birds are here!” It’s a simple story that has seen many iterations for the preschool and primary set, but this time the emphasis is on auditory rather than visual discovery of the hatchlings. With its many birdcalls that invite imitation, the text is enjoyable in its own right, as are the softly textured, earth-toned setting in which children and birds enjoy each other’s company. Additionally, the closing notes provide an informative bonus, cleverly styled as an “A Word with a Bird” interview, that allows the robin to explain in detail why she was so very quiet, how she and her mate work together to care for their young, what will happen to the hatchlings, and whether she has a song of her own (“I make lots of different sounds to communicate, but mostly the father bird does the singing: In fact, that’s why I picked him. I love his song”). Who better to illuminate the finer points of robins’ domestic life than the mother bird herself?