Customer Reviews

Oscar and Olive Osprey: A Family Takes Flight (A Mom's Choice Awards Recipient)

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I LOVED THIS BOOK! This book is beautifully written with factual information. It parallels human family life and demonstrates family values. Like the author, I live on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and enjoy birdwatching. I am also fortunate to have a nearby osprey nest to observe. I purchased this book for my three and one-half year old great-nephew who has taken up birdwatching as a result of my babysitting him at my home. My nephew never fails to ask for my bird field guide book and binoculars. Our favorite bird species are subject of this book. My nephew also has a passion for books and learning so I got excited about purchasing the one for him after reading about it in a local paper. Even though he is a little young, I new that he would love having his grandmother read it to him (He and his grandmother have a special relationship when it comes to books). This book is timeless. I feel he will cherish it and probably read it to his children and grandchildren. The book delivered much more than I had anticipated and I highly recommend it. I am glad that the author chose to present actual photographs in lieu of illustrated characters.

With the first opening of the book and the wonderful pictures, I was hooked.The story grabs you right from the start with the insight that the author seems to have of these great birds. You can feel her excitement as you read the story of parenting and love that are portrayed.Having lived on the Chesapeake Bay for a good part of my life, it was so nice to have someone put into words my own feelings about this beautiful area and wildlife that lives here. I recommend this book for all ages because it is a story that is educational and written with much love

Easy reading, embodied in a gentle style with a soft Maryland touch, and an enchanting way to spend a few hours immersed in the magic of the Chesapeake ... even if it's only through pictures and one's imagination. Janie Suss has given a gift to all with this book. As poster children for the inside scoop on what it's like to be an osprey, Oscar and Olive bring to light an identity and realness for birds that many of us only see soaring above the Bay and wonder about. Through it we all receive Mother Nature's lessons for what family life is all about, it's joy, it's struggles, and it's fulfillment.

I wasn't really sure about this book but it is so well done that I'd recommend anyone who is living on the Chesapeake Bay or areas where these birds live read it. It's a great story because the author actualy lived the experience with these birds not to mention all the pictures were taken by her. For children as a bedtime story it can't be beat.

You don't have to live on the Bay either, if you just like animal stories and family inter action you need to get this book!! Enjoy, I know after you read it you will recommend it to your friends. Hope there is a sequel.

This story shares the challenges and triumphs faced by one of the most endearing families on the Chesapeake Bay. By describing the family's evolution, the author reminds us of the great fun and humor in sibling rivalry and family camaraderie. I recommend this book to all ages and especially those who appreciate the nature and beauty of the Chesapeake Bay.

Janie Suss, author of an osprey family saga with parallels to human family life, relates to birds the way some men are obsessed with golf. Suss, who lives on the Chesapeake Bay (no specific clue is given about western or Eastern Shore location), is a birder among birders. She feeds birds, provides water for them, plants gardens to attract them and revels in their comings and goings, either migrating or year-round residents.

Known affectionately as the local "Bird Lady," her neighbors were indulgent but braced her for disappointment when she decided that she'd erect a platform for ospreys on a tall piling off the end of her dock.

After all, they told her, it's near the middle of July. Ospreys return to the Bay in mid-March. You can put up a platform now and maybe next spring you'll have tenants.

The Bird Lady knew that, of course. All the same, it struck her that right now she had the impetus, the lumber, the offer of male muscle to attach the platform to the post, so what was the benefit of postponing the carpentry? Full speed ahead!

The project was not merely a whim. Suss knew the structure needed to be a minimum of 4 feet square, that some sort of raised edge would help keep the sticks and lining in place. Even if no birds would use it so late in the season, they might check it out for future use.

The naysayers were destined to eat crow. The day after the last bolt attached the platform to the post, an osprey landed on it, circled it from above and approved of the big oak tree on Suss's lawn at the water's edge. He was every realtor's dream of an interested buyer at an open house showing. By sundown, the new osprey had unofficially signed the contract and closed the sale. Suss, delighted at the transaction, promptly named him Oscar.

Within a few days, Oscar acquired a beautiful bride and settled in with Olive to set up housekeeping. Oscar fetched and toted while Olive arranged the furniture, so to speak. Oscar brought big sticks for the base atop the wooden frame with its spacing for fresh air in good weather, ventilation in summer heat and drainage slots for wet weather.

While the big birds were in construction mode, Suss watched the process and sowed seeds in her garden at the same time. To keep birds from stealing the new seeds, she covered them with straw that had been held in a bale by orange nylon ties. Suss left the ties on the ground, knowing that ospreys use a variety of objects in nest building. Indeed, they quickly took the ties as well as large bunches of straw to embellish their new digs.

Suss not only monitored the new avian family, she also kept her camera at the ready. The book is lavishly illustrated with her photographs that record every phase of the birds' occupation. The photos, like the text, invite the reader onsite when Oscar tries on the platform for size, chooses a mate, builds a waterfront dream house where Olive lays three eggs, they hatch and Oscar is the dutiful breadwinner, or in this case, fishmonger.

Both parents cosset and guard the baby birds, patiently shading them from the hot sun and sheltering them in rain and windstorms. The model family life in the nest extends to the smallest osprey, the baby, the last to hatch from the last of three eggs laid.

There's a moral in this loving account of an osprey couple nurturing children, teaching them to fly, to fish for themselves, and to dare to learn new skills, no matter how daunting.

Subtitled "A Family Takes Flight," Janie Suss has brought forth a perfect book for the young reader or the pre-school child who can follow the bedtime story read aloud by looking at pictures in the family album of Oscar, Olive and the kids.

Santa take note this book has "cherished gift" written all over it.

By ANNE STINSON Book Critic

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