A Bird Is a Bird

Rockwell walks readers through the characteristics that make birds, well, birds, accompanied by vivid, mixed-media portraits of dozens of avian specimens. After explaining that birds have beaks and wings (“Wings flap and glide. Wings help swim and dive”), and that they emerge from eggs, she concludes by covering the trait that separates them from platypuses, flies, and snakes (which have beaks, wings, and emerge from eggs, respectively): feathers. Direct writing and handsome labeled images of birds in their native environments (egrets and spoonbills hunt in shallow water, an owl and whip-poor-will appear camouflaged against tree bark) clearly demonstrate their breadth and diversity. Ages 3–7. (May)