Delicate watercolor paintings and a haiku-like text celebrate the whooping crane, an endangered bird that has become a symbol of wildlife preservation efforts, in a study that details the birds' habitat, behavior, migratory patterns, and life cycles.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In 1941, whooping cranes were shamefully easy to count--as an author's note points out, only 15 existed in the world. (Today there are 131 whooping cranes in the Canadian-American flock.) For Owens ( A Caribou Alphabet ), counting cranes is not merely an exercise to teach numbers but a reminder of the need for continued protection of North America's largest bird. Though central, this conservationist message never overwhelms the story: the author's spare, haiku-like text makes the point with something like the understated elegance of the crane's flight. Light-splashed and airy, her watercolor and acrylic illustrations seem to hover above the page. Beginning with a single crane, each exquisite spread adds another bird as it illustrates a variety of scenes from the 2600-mile spring and fall migrations of cranes from Canada to Texas. A snowy Northern lake, harvested farmland and a Southern tidal marsh crowded with wildlife are among the habitats depicted. Information concerning the birds' mating habits, diet and relations to other species is gracefully included. Ages 2-8.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Owens (A Caribou Alphabet, 1989, ALA Notable) brings her concern for wildlife and elegant sense of design to a counting book featuring a species--the whooping crane--once reduced to a population of 15, the number shown on the last spread here (there are are now 131 cranes ``living in the Canadian-American flock''). Building toward that number, she pictures a solitary crane in a late spring snow and a pair with a single nestling; in mounting numbers, the flock forages for food, migrates, and completes the year by setting north again. Owens's text is as spare and carefully honed as haiku (``Cold and heavy,/wings beating/to pass a storm cloud,/eight cranes/struggle''); in her exquisite compositions, each comprised of a spread with two wonderfully harmonious frames, the delicate birds gracefully exceed slim borders containing impressionistically rendered landscapes. A lovely, eloquent book. (Picture book. 3-8) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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