The Sky Painter: Louis Fuertes, Bird Artist

In spare first-person poems, Louis Fuertes describes his life from a young devotee of birds to a career as a naturalist and artist. While Bereghici’s watercolor-and-ink art offers realistically detailed images of the birds Fuertes loves, whimsical moments are present, too, as when Fuertes he dives underwater to observe ducks (“I plunge into a lake and look up/ from below, studying their funny tails/ and their paddling/ webbed feet”). Engle’s quiet verse portrays Fuertes as a quietly impassioned individual most at home in the presence of animals or sharing his love for them. Ages 6–8. Author’s agent: Michelle Humphrey, Martha Kaplan Agency. Illustrator’s agency: the Organisation. (Apr.)