We Are Starlings: Inside the Mesmerizing Magic of a Murmuration

Voicing a collective identity through the first-person plural “we,” starlings perform a fractal air ballet in this spare look at the species’ movements. As the pages turn, Furrow and Napoli’s minimal text traces starlings gathering into a “giant flock” (hundreds, then thousands, then millions). Martin’s expressive multimedia spreads grow accordingly, approximating the undulating black shapes of the birds swirling in unison against a peach-hued sunset. Further lines describe the sound that gives a murmuration its name (“We flap flap our wings,/ making a murmur even those/ on the ground can hear”) and mode of avoiding predators (when the cluster veers, a peregrine falcon rocketing into the flock “can’t target any one of us”). Further emphasizing starlings’ group movements, pages end with the birds’ landing “all at once.... / a sudden plop/ to earth—the starling way.” A brief note concludes. Ages 4–8. (May)