Christian Cooper wears many feathers in his cap: he’s a science writer, a comics writer and editor at Marvel, the Emmy Award-winning host of National Geographic’s Extraordinary Birder, and author of an adult memoir, Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World. And now he adds children’s author to his list of accomplishments, with his picture book debut The Urban Owls: How Flaco and Friends Made the City Their Home, illustrated by Kristen Adam. The story highlights Flaco, one of New York City’s most notable owls—who escaped from the Central Park Zoo—and several other owls who have made New York their home, however briefly. Cooper spoke with PW on writing about the relationship between humans and owls, how his time working in comics helped him as a collaborator, and how he hopes we can all better appreciate nature.
This marks your children’s debut. What made you want to share your love of birds with young readers?
I think it’s so important to get children involved early in appreciating and understanding nature. It’s something I’ve been doing my whole adult life. I’ve been volunteering in New York City public schools, trying to get the kids outdoors and exposed to birds—as far as I’m concerned, the best gateway into nature. That’s always been a goal of mine, and now I get to do it through this children’s book, and through a group of birds that are just so captivating to everyone, but I think children in particular, which is owls.
You’ve had a long career in comics; did any of that experience help you in crafting a picture book?
Working in comics definitely taught me the value and fun of collaborating. I wrote comics; I did not draw them. I would make up the story, and then there would be an artist who would draw it, and then I would put the actual words that would go into the balloons and all that. So similarly, I wrote this story, and then it went to Kristen Adam, who did an amazing job of really bringing the owls to life visually, and doing it in a way that kids can identify with—not making them cutesy, but, making them a little bit abstracted from how they might look. And yet she kept the features that make each owl species identifiable. It’s a really fine line to walk, and she did an incredible job with that.
The story shows how often owls adapt to new environments and grapple with physical challenges. What inspired that choice? And what made you want to showcase the similarities between human and animal experiences?
There’s the relationship between humans and owls, which can be fraught and can be wonderful. I’m trying with this book to make sure that kids know, let’s push this towards the wonderful rather than the not so great. But there’s also the observations about living in general, whether you’re an owl or a human. It’s not about how humans and owls interact, but it’s really about how owls do these things and live this way. And actually, sometimes people do too, and isn’t that interesting? [It’s about] finding those points of connection. Not so much about saying, humans and owls interact in this way, but rather than humans and owls have lives that are not all that different in some ways.
How do you hope this book helps young readers develop their relationship to nature—especially for kids living in cities?
I hope they see just how wonderful owls are and how it’s incumbent on us to make sure that they get the best chance to thrive amongst us. That’s the first thing. And then the second thing is some intersections of our lives. When I’m talking about how Flaco hunted at night, I said he worked the night shift, which actually a lot of people do. And then I talked about how Flaco and his family came from far away from New York City, because he’s a Eurasian Eagle Owl. His species is found in Eurasia, and yet, he found a home in New York City and was quite successful and made it his. He became a New Yorker. That’s true of so many people in New York: their families, or they themselves, come from far, far away, and yet they find and make a home for themselves. Those are parallels and interesting observations that I found striking, and important to highlight for kids.
The Urban Owls: How Flaco and Friends Made the City Their Home by Christian Cooper, illus. by Kristen Adam. Little, Brown, $18.99 Feb. 18, ISBN 978-0-316-58357-2
