Cradles in the Trees: The Story of Bird Nests

PreSchool-Grade 3-An adequate but uninspired exploration of the materials and methods birds use to build their nests. The narrative jumps from migration to egg laying and nest building but ignores mating. It ends by encouraging readers to collect nests in the fall and winter after the birds have finished with them, and suggests that they put out bright string or yarn in the spring. Many of the species pictured nest in the eastern and midwestern parts of the U.S.; a few can be found elsewhere, but the author does not provide a distribution map. Softly focused, colored-pencil and watercolor drawings (mostly unlabeled) do not add any excitement to the generally straightforward text. In an illustration of various eggs, the shadows they cast are not consistent, making the artwork seem oddly composed. On one double-page spread, the illustrations are misleading because they do not take into account relative sizes; a wren appears longer than a crow pictured nearby, and the raptor on the opposite page has a wing span only slightly wider than the length of the same wren. Barbara Bash's Urban Roosts (Little, 1990) offers a more attractive alternative but concentrates only on birds that nest in cities. Despite its artistic flaws, Demuth's book is a useful jumping-off point for students investigating the subject.
Ellen Fader, Oregon State Library, Salem
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 1-3. Demuth works effectively to show the variety of materials and skills that birds use to create special nests appropriate for sheltering their young. The watercolor-and-pencil artwork makes an already clear text clearer, and the pages are well designed, with the illustrations close to the descriptions. Demuth also gives careful and correct advice on nest collecting. The book will inspire specific projects as well as a sense of wonder--children will be less likely to take bird nests for granted. Mary Harris Veeder