Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard by Annette LeBlanc Cate (review)

Let’s be honest: many kids will respond to the idea of bird-watching with a sardonic “You gotta be kidding.” And these are the very kids who stand to be pleasantly surprised by Cate’s humorous, informative invitation to the hobby and her low-pressure, common-sense approach. She begins with a bit of excellent advice: leave the electronic devices at home, grab some snacks, sunscreen, and a sketchpad (perhaps later the more ambitious addition of a field guide and binoculars), and start to look, really look. Cate then explains what exactly to look for in terms of bird behavior, size, shape, color, markings, etc. Each suggestion amounts to a baby step toward getting accustomed to observing these creatures. Only when the bird-watcher has gotten comfortable with the birds does the whole issue of identification—which is too often the frustrating lead-off activity in hobbyist books—get underway. The beauty of this approach is that kids can stop at almost any point along this journey and still derive considerable pleasure from the enterprise. Cate supplements her instructive and encouraging remarks with cartoon-style illustrations that include plenty of additional speech-balloon commentary from the birds themselves. Not everyone can pull off the kibitzing-animal shtick, but the avian chorus is genuinely funny, and their banter goes a long way toward driving the lessons home. Spring’s around the corner, and kids could do worse than park themselves on a fallen log—or even atop a gravestone—and see what they can see.