FIVE BIRD FRIENDS

A debut children’s picture book introduces common birds, the five senses, and prepositions of place.

Canadian educators Chapel and Porter offer several parallel lessons in this brief work. Five birds of the Western Hemisphere—a cardinal, a blue jay, a mourning dove, a hummingbird, and a chickadee—are asked simple sensory questions, such as “Cardinal, Cardinal, what do you see?” and “Chickadee, Chickadee, what do you feel?” In each case, the bird’s answer includes at least one place preposition, such as “on,” “in front of,” “around,” “in,” “above,” and “beside,” underlined for greater emphasis. (The mourning dove’s answer—“I smell the air around me!”—includes a note that “I’m afraid, like most other birds, I cannot smell very well!”) Included are guidelines for various activities, including sense-related ones, plus a generously oversized format, making the book ideal for classroom use. Teachers may choose from a variety of things to make and do—at least one for each sense—and incorporate additional information, such as the differences between species’ beaks and claws. Ireland’s detailed, realistic, full-page color illustrations are beautiful and lively. They portray each bird’s natural setting and even their personalities, from the dove’s shyness to the chickadee’s bright-eyed cheekiness.

An attractive and useful teaching tool.