Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush [Hardcover]

Lynne Cherry (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: K and up

This is a reverent environmental story of a wood thrush’s first year and his arduous first migration--across thousands of miles--from his nesting ground in the Belt Woods in Maryland to his winter home in Costa Rica, and back again. During his journey Flute encounters many perils, including natural predators and devastating habitat loss. “Cherry has a gift for sharing her knowledge through engaging fictional stories.”--Booklist

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 3. Cherry takes readers through the first year of a wood thrush's life, from its hatching in a forest in Maryland to its migration across the Gulf of Mexico to the Costa Rican rain forest and back again. Two children, who observe the bird as a young chick and juvenile, name him Flute "for they knew that when he grew up he would sing as beautifully as his father and that his song would echo through the forest." The same children wait for Flute's return the following spring and watch as he and his mate, whom they name Feather, build a nest and raise their young. In the course of Flute's travels, he encounters a hawk, insects tainted with pesticide, a prowling cat, and a shrinking habitat. The eggs and nestlings are even more at risk. Naming the birds effectively keeps the focus on their individual story, and the author is careful not to anthropomorphize. At the same time, perhaps because of this, the narrative comes off as a laundry list of the perils facing migratory songbirds and keeps readers at a distance. The lustrous watercolors, particularly the paintings of Flute alone, are exceptionally well rendered. Some of the larger scenes, however, are so chock-full of flora and fauna that they seem unnatural; with the exception of the shape of the leaves, the northern forest seems to be as dense and rich with wildlife as the rain forest. An author's note and resplendent map endpapers round out this earnest and informative presentation.?Luann Toth, School Library Journal
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5^-8. Cherry has a gift for sharing her knowledge through engaging fictional stories. Here, through the tale of a young wood thrush, readers learn the dangers migratory birds face. Cherry's illustrations, always a feast for the eyes, provide colorful, richly detailed forest scenes as a handsome backdrop for the story of Flute's autumn migration from his birthplace in a Maryland forest to a Central American rain forest. There he rests and feeds before beginning his journey back north in the spring. Along the way, Flute faces natural predators, but the destruction of habitat is presented as the most serious threat. A concluding author's note makes the point more directly and offers some concrete suggestions for youngsters who want to help. A nice addition to Cherry's impressive body of environmental literature for children. Lauren Peterson

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books; 1st edition (February 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152928537
• ISBN-13: 978-0152928537
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 9.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #212,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside information from author Lynne Cherry, December 16, 1999

By 

lynne cherry (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush (Hardcover)

When I began writing Flute's Journey, I was going to put Flute in the woods at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center where I was then artist-in-residence. However, an ornithologist friend said, "put Flute in the Belt Woods!" "What's the Belt woods?" I asked. She told me it was a forest that had been owned by Seton Belt and he had willed it to a church if they agreed to never cut the trees or sell the land. But after he died, the church had the will overturned and put the land up for sale to a developer for $9 million. It's a long story, but many children wrote letters to the bishop of the church asking that they respect Seton Belt's wishes and save the land. And, I'm convinced, that it was their letters that saved Flute's home, the Belt woods. Their letters, like the following one, came from the heart: "Seton Belt trusted you. How can you go against him?" Our campaign to save the woods was covered by CBS Morning News with Charles Osgood and they mentioned Flute's Journey and the children's letters. They asked me what kids could do. I said, "they can write to the church." And so many more letters were sent. Now Belt Woods is preserved forever. Children helped to save Flute's home and children, in many ways, can make a difference in the world. Lynne Cherry

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learned Behavior vs. Instinct, March 20, 2006

By 

Bev "Love Science!" (Frisco, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush (Hardcover)

As a fifth grade science teacher in Texas, one of our objectives is for students to understand the difference between learned and inherited behaviors. Flute's Journey accomplishes this goal beautifully. From the beautiful illustrations to the lyrical text, the students are drawn in to the life of a woodthrush. As I read the book to them, they were to write down in one column the learned traits they saw/heard, and the inherited traits in another. They were enthralled with the story, and were amazed at how many examples there were in this one book of each type of behavior. Even though this book is listed for the lower primary grades, I highly recommend it for any science class studying learned and instinctual behaviors.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is soooo good!, July 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush (Hardcover)

It tells how hard the life of birds can be. I especially liked how it told about the cowbird who came and took one egg away because that tells the way cowbirds are. I liked how the children gaves names to the woodthrushes.