Customer Reviews

The Burgess Bird Book for Children (Dover Children's Classics)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have been fascinated with birds since I was young. I have 5 children and wanted to pass on this love. They were only slightly interested until I read this book to them. The intermingling of story and fact is just enough to keep even my young ones interested.

Peter Rabbit is the main character. He goes around to the various habitats discovering the different birds. He wants especially to know where the nest is, and how many young they have. Jenny Wren is also a main character. She is little Miss-Know-it-All. The fact that she is characterized as somewhat "snooty" helped my kids remember that a good identifier to wrens is their upturned tails.

Recently on a bird hike we spotted a cow bird. Our instructor began to explain the cowbirds nesting habits. My children were able to help explain as they had remembered it from The Burgess Bird Book for Children. As an avid birder and a Mom that was a great thrill. A lesson learned and all from a simple story.

I recommed taking your time reading this to your children. A chapter here and there. We've been reading ours for over a year as time allows and as interests peak....especially in fall and spring as more birds migrate. I also recommend giving the kids an identifier book as you read. As soon as the name of the bird is revealed in each chapter the kids race to see who can find the bird first.

Even though on the sample page online Burgess refers to the beautiful and accurate illustrations of birds - they are completely missing in this edition! It was hugely disappointing and reveals a lack of understanding about the purpose of the book in the first place. The book was intended to be an introduction to bird identification and lore for children. It is not a simple story book - not at all! Burgess' entertaining and excellent writing, of course, remains.... I have no argument with Burgess - it is simply that half his material was left out of this publication without any notation in the description of the book that the illustrations had been deleted.

I bought this book as a gift for a neighbor child who enjoys watching birds at the feeder between our houses. When it arrived from Amazon, I skimmed through it, and had mixed feelings. The stories are wonderful to read as an adult but seem a bit dated, and, while still an enjoyable read, may be less than engaging for many children. The illustrations are fairly interpretive and rendered in black and white, so the book doesn't function as any kind of quick reference. But as a learning tool for increasing a child's acquaintance with familiar backyard birds, it's very good. Paired with a good quick-reference field guide or chart, this could make for many happy hours of satisfied bird-watching.

I was quite disappointed to see that this book has no pictures in color. How to explain to a child what the bird actually looks like!!!

The "search inside" feature of this ad shows gorgeous, color photographs of the birds; HOWEVER, the actual book's photos are in black and white! Admittingly, the photos here are more accurate than Dover's older version's drawings, but you will still need to refer to another source for color photos/drawings. If you already own an older copy, don't bother with this one! If you are buying for the first time, you will appreciate the large, clear photos, but know that they are all in black and white.
Spacing of the text is another problem I have with this publisher's version. The lines of text are too close together for easy reading. Dover's version is easier on the eyes.

I bought this for CM year 1 for my son. We have tons of birds that come to our feeder and this entertaining book has given my children good insight into the days of these little creatures. I thought the cover looked very familiar and couldn't recall why it seemed so. My mother was over at my house and picked it up. She said that she had the antique hardback and had it displayed because of it's beautiful cover. While it surprised her that it was still in print, after reading some of it, I'm not surprised at all. It's a joy, giving children rich vocabulary that has been largely lost and beautiful fictional stories of the world around us. Definitely NOT twaddle!

This was one of my favorite books as a child. It is a wonderful story written with the purpose of learning about birds.

As a high school biology teacher for many years, I always assigned my students to positively identify 50 birds each Spring. It was an effort for some, but a number of my former students are now avid bird watchers in their own right! I wish I had known about this the Burgess Bird Book for Children at that time. I only stumbled upon this book last year, and found it chock full of fascinating information about the birds. The new pictures really bring it to life, also--even if this is a black and white edition. I highly recommend this fascinating book to anyone interested in learning more about the birds at their feeder, or teaching their children about the birds.

This book's stories are a delightful way to encourage nature apprecition for all ages.

The book arrived quickly and in good shape. The book is non-fiction but reads like fiction.