Happy December! We’ve decided to have fun with the holiday song featuring a partridge in a pear tree and highlight some of our favorite middle-grade STEM titles about birds. Take a “gander” at these books for the budding ornithologists in your classroom.
Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot by Sy Montgomery, photographs by Nic Bishop
The last remaining Kakapo parrots live on a remote island off the coast of New Zealand. Explore recovery efforts in this Scientists in the Field title by noted author Sy Montgomery.
Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3D-Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle by Deborah Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp
Discover the uplifting story of how one bald eagle was treated with a 3D-printed prosthetic beak after a devastating shooting.
Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 and The Race to Save The Lord God Bird both Phillip Hoose
These two titles from a National Book Award-winning author tell the stories of two fascinating birds. Moonbird is a banded bird, who has flown the equivalent mileage of flying to the moon and halfway back. In The Race to Save The Lord God Bird Hoose recounts the dramatic story of the ivory-billed woodpecker.
Snowy Owl Invasion!: Tracking on Unusual Migration by Sandra Markle
If you found Moonbird fascinating, this title will also keep you turning the page. Markle’s book describes the unusual sightings of snowy owls during 2013 and the reasons they were found outside of their native Arctic home.
Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World’s Brightest Bird by Pamela Turner, photographs by Andy Comins, with art by Guido de Filipppo
If you think that the term “bird brain” is an insult, think again. Turner investigates the intelligence of crows in this Scientist in the Field title. Readers will never look at a crow in the same way again.
I Love Birds: 52 Ways to Wonder, Wander, and Explore Birds with Kids by Jennifer Ward , illustrations by Alexander Vidal
Ward offers some great activities for young birders in this early middle grade.
Owling: Enter the World of the Mysterious Birds of Night by Mark Wilson
While we’re sleeping the night is alive with creatures, including owls. Wilson brings the night alive in this book about these nighttime predators.
Like Phillip Hoose, Sneed B. Collard III is an author who returns to the subject of birds again and again. Check out these three titles:
Fire Birds: Valuing Natural Wildfires and Burned Forests
Natural forest fires impact many human and animal species, including birds. Sneed reveals the complex relationships between fire and thriving plant and animal communities.
Warblers and Woodpeckkers: A Father-Son Big Year of Birding
Discover Collard’s birding expeditions with his 13-year old son. A wonderful book about a passion for birding and a parent-child bonding experience.
Woodpeckers: Drilling Holes and Bagging Bugs
It’s always a treat to watch a woodpecker pound a tree with its beak to reach a tasty meal, but how do they do it without getting brain damage or harming their beak? Collard delves into the world of woodpeckers in this book.
STEM Tuesday book lists prepared by
Nancy Castaldo has written books about our planet for over 20 years including, THE STORY OF SEEDS, which earned the Green Earth Book Award, Junior Library Guild Selection, and other honors. Nancy’s research has taken her all over the world from the Galapagos to Russia. She strives to inform, inspire, and empower her readers. Nancy also serves as the Regional Advisor of the Eastern NY SCBWI region. Her 2018 multi-starred title is BACK FROM THE BRINK: Saving Animals from Extinction. Visit her at www.nancycastaldo.com.
Patricia Newman writes middle-grade nonfiction that empowers young readers to act on behalf of the environment and their communities. A Sibert Honoree for Sea Otter Heroes, Newman has also received an NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book Award for Eavesdropping on Elephants, and a Green Earth Book Award for Plastic, Ahoy! Her books have also received starred reviews, been honored as Junior Library Guild Selections, and included on Bank Street College’s Best Books lists. During author visits, she demonstrates how young readers can use writing to be the voice of change. Visit her at www.patriciamnewman.com.
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Thanks for a wonderful list. I love bird books and there are several here I didn’t know about.