One Little Flower Girl Book

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 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.