Blue Sky Bluebird

by Chrustowski, Rick; Chrustowski, Rick

• ISBN13: 9780805071047
• ISBN10: 0805071040
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-01
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Summary

One spring day when the ground is a carpet of green, a pair of bluebirds arrives at their summer home. Inside their nest box the female weaves layers of coarse grass into a circle. Then she presses her body into the middle to make acup.A season in the life of a bluebird family In a cozy nest of grass a female bluebird lays her eggs, blue as the summer sky. When they hatch, there are four tiny chicks to feed. From morning to night, the parent birds hunt for tasty insects to give to their hungry brood. The chicks grow quickly, and within a few weeks they have enough feathers to learn to fly. At first their wings are shaky and unsure, but soon the fledglings are fast enough to catch their own meals. Now the nearly grown chicks can help their parents raise a new brood of hungry babies-before the cold winter drives the family south.

Author Biography

Rick Chrustowski is the author/illustrator of Hop Frog and Bright Beetle, as well as the illustrator of Army Ant Parade and Lunch at the Zoo. He lives and works in an old farmhouse on a hill in Wisconsin. Mr. Chrustowski loves to learn about nature, and while he was creating this book he spent lots of time studying the bluebirds that live in the nest box he made for them.

Table of Contents

"The brief, readable text is so interesting and informative that it will easily hold the attention of children not yet capable of reading it on their own. . . . Although no sources are listed, this finely crafted presentation of fact and art work exemplifies the best in informational literature."--School Library Journal

"The illustrations are bright colored pencil drawings over watercolor wash, a technique that lends itself to remarkably crisp outlines and details--the newly hatched chicks are wonderfully ugly."--Kirkus Reviews

"[Chrustowski] shows a fine-tuned sense of what interests children, the ability to express it in simple words, and a talent for illustrating animals in a way that is both accurate and appealing."--Booklist