Behold the Hummingbird!

Page-filling hummingbird close-ups populate this appreciation from the team behind Behold the Octopus! “Hummingbirds only live in the Americas,” Slade explains in back matter, and each spread of this picture book depicts one of only a dozen featured, from an Anna’s hummingbird conserving energy to a red-tailed comet busy pollinating. Informational content arrives in parallel text: oversize action words on the left (“feeding,” “resting”) accompany facts, at right, about these “aerial acrobats” who “fly backward and hover in one place like a helicopter” as well as “maneuver up and down like an elevator.” Working in pastel, colored pencil, and airbrush, Gonzalez realistically pictures the birds visiting tropical flowers, sparring, or perching amid twigs, while blurred backgrounds hint at greenery. It’s a basic introduction that falls short of depicting the variety and diversity of the hummingbird kingdom. Ages 4–8. (Apr.)