By Paula Holmes

At sunrise, I am greeted by mourning doves sitting on the fence, cooing outside my window. This greeting cannot be ignored as my semi-feral cat, Seraphina, is demanding I open the shades for her viewing pleasure. We have been spending time together identifying the birds and other wildlife in the backyard. She is now an indoor cat and I find myself indoors and at home, a bald-head Rapunzel from chemotherapy. Together we gaze outside, both put out with our situations.

On warm days I sit outside weaving potholders listening to the different bird songs. I don’t think I paid much attention until now. I am learning my yard has more than mourning doves, robins, cardinals, and blue jays. Two red-tailed hawks patrol overhead and claim the nearby church steeple, surveilling my neighborhood, side by side. I have a large family of rabbits that come out in the evening and a very brave and very small red squirrel that darts fast when the shadows of the hawks cross my patio. The chipmunks produce the most excitement for Seraphina, who stalks them from window to window.

The Starling’s Song

Last year, I was given the recommendation to read The Starling’s Song by Octavia Wolters from Pushkin Children’s, translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison. Illustrated in black linocut prints with touches of yellow ochre on stark white paper with a kraft paper cover, there is an air of simplicity that no doubt was complicated to achieve. The birds almost look like cut paper silhouettes on the stark white pages. The starling sings about nature to the fellow birds and each reminds the starling of something to sing about. Each bird is a work of art. The reflection of the illustration and the text of the kingfisher shows the power of what art and text together can do. I hold tight to the verse of the mother duck:

‘Don’t forget to sing about life’, said the duck.

‘Life can seem difficult, but it’s the most simple thing there is. The only thing you have to do is exist. That’s more than enough.’

This Will Last Forever

Octavia Wolters’ latest book, also translated by Michele Hutchison is a large format picture book monthly journal. Although targeted for an adult audience, #worldkidlit fans should  keep Octavia Wolters on their radar. The linocut prints of birds, one for each month, differ from those of The Starling’s Song. The backgrounds are drenched in color without losing the boldness of illustration technique. For those who are fans of endpapers, this is one to brag about. I think there is a strong case for a Batchelder Award for Illustration. Librarians, booksellers, parents, caregivers and the children they serve seek illustrators from around the world just as much as introductions to global authors and translators. As much as I am praising Wolters as an illustrator, the text from the team of Wolters and Hutchison delivers. From the monthly walks, the reader is invited to notice the small things from snow drops to tree trunks, that time in nature can offer healing for grief and pain. As each month progresses, one gathers pieces of the grief and healing. The journal has poetic qualities, and there is much to discover in the text as there is in a walk in the countryside.

I have been unable to travel during my cancer treatment, but have spent time with nature in my backyard, Wolters reminds me; “I’m no globetrotter. I enjoy my immediate surroundings, small and contained. I know my country well, and yet it shows me something new every day. I don’t have to go far, this is where I find my answers. And my questions. They are just as important.” This journal reflects the power of nature therapy. Journaling is something that has always intimidated me, but Wolter’s monthly journal that centers on a different bird in the woods, gives inspiration to the reader that a journal can be unique to you. At the start of my treatments, Barb, my chemotherapy nurse told me to start a journal. I am not the journalling type. She said it doesn’t have to be that type of journal. I get that now.

Home

By my window sits a large birding guide and a checklist of local birds ready for my discoveries. I give my cat Seraphina a running commentary on the names of our backyard friends. It occurs to me that I must have learned the names sometime in my life. I don’t recall studying birds, or regularly visiting aviaries, so just like my chats with Seraphina, someone must have shared their knowledge in such a casual way. I don’t recall the education process, but I think that is why I am such a fan of reading aloud to children. I know that I learned the names of quite a few sharks and whales from picture books that my sons had me read over and over again. 

For birds (and nature in general), I can highly recommend looking at the Eerdmans Books for Young Readers catalog. Eerdmans has a commitment to high quality books on science with their Spectacular STEAM for Curious Readers series. Included in this series is the 2025 Batchelder Honor Book, Home. It features animal dwellings, including the hummingbird’s tiny nest and the elf owl who peers out from the cactus. As with all Simler’s books the endpapers are works of art.

Plume

Eerdmans has published five works by Simler, including Home and A Perfect Spot both translated from French by Vineet Lal. Plume was my introduction to Simler’s work and I continue to gift it at baby showers. Each page contains a single word of text (until the end) naming the fabulously illustrated bird. Each bird shares the stark white page with a small glimpse of Plume, a black cat. A nose, a tail, a shadow, adding fun engagement in the reading. Adding Isabelle Simler picture books to your collection will strengthen a child’s connection to nature.

Fly Like a Bird

Birds are a great way to connect with nature and one can engage with birds in multiple ways. Beyond just watching I have started playing around with the Merlin App to identify bird songs. I have quite a few song sparrows in my yard and I love the way they hop and flutter around, so different from the hawks that glide above. Fly Like A Bird, by Russian children’s author, Olga Ptashnik is a wonderful introduction to a variety of birds and how they move about through the sky and water and those that stay closer to land.

The story follows a young chickadee actively questioning a parent about flying. The parent introduces different birds and how they fly, and birds that don’t fly, but swim and run. Each bird species is beautifully illustrated in watercolor and pencil. It is worth studying Ptashnik’s animation technique of laying watercolors to show movement. Bird facts are seamlessly woven into a conversation. There is much discussion on how various birds stay safe and have different strategies against predators. Besides science content, it shows a parent reassuring a child about fear and taking first steps doing something new. Throughout, the book maintains a gentle and comforting feel. The conversation is differentiated between the parent and child in the text by use of color and font style.

The back matter contains additional facts on the birds. The endpapers are illustrated with feathers from all the birds in the book. And like the little song sparrow hopping in my yard, the young chickadee figures out the best way for young chickadees to fly. The author wraps up the story in a bow and hopefully encourages readers to spend some time in nature watching the birds. I know that is what Seraphina and I are doing.

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