GIFTS FROM CROWS

A true story about a girl, a flock of crows, and the treasures that pass between them.

When pale-skinned young Gabi leaves snacks outside her Puget Sound home, the clever crows take notice—and begin leaving gifts in return, from earrings and buttons to a “pearl-colored heart.” Sterer braids two threads with real skill: the friendship that unfolds between Gabi and the crows and richly researched interludes about these birds. Strickland reflects this dual structure with two distinct visual registers. Depicting red rain boots, blossoming trees, and more, spreads glow in airy watercolor and gouache, channeling the spirit of Winnie-the-Pooh illustrator E.H. Shepard, whom Strickland cites as inspiration. The fact-based pages shift to a sepia-toned palette rendered in ink linework that evokes a field notebook. One standout is a double-page family tree: a single spreading tree marked with more than a dozen crows, its branches threaded with hand-lettered banners about their complex habits, which include serving as lookouts for one another, observing funerals, and forging lifelong bonds. This page's design makes abundantly clear the book’s central idea: “To be a crow is to be part of a great family.” Story and science illuminate each other so that by the final spreads, when we see the gifts raining from the sky, wonder and information have become the same thing. Author’s and illustrator’s notes offer more information on the real-life Gabi Mann, a young Seattle girl who in 2011 began befriending crows in her neighborhood.

A brilliant tribute to curiosity, kindness, and the intelligence of a much-maligned bird.