Australian Backyard Birdies

ABBEY'S BOOKSELLER PICK ----- A totally delightful, sometimes factual, first guide to common Australian birds (and a couple of blow-ins. Or blow-ups! Because it is quite likely flamingo and inflatable swans live in a backyard!) Birdwatching is a marvellous pursuit (yes, okay, I'm a bird nerd so perhaps a bit biased!) but in these times when we find ourselves limited in our travel, birdwatching has become a very popular backyard hobby. With rather lovely watercolour illustrations that catch the essence of the bird, cheeky descriptions (we have seagull – the beach chicken. Pigeon – the roof chicken. Chicken – the chicken chicken) and a few lines of text, it also has the scientific names, distribution maps, and size, as compared with a bucket. A book to make you smile, but it will actually teach the littlest birder in the house a few things about some of our most easily seen birds.  Lindy

This would be a good book as a discussion starter for a science lesson with younger classes. They can collectively work out what information on the page is true and what is not. The layout format could be adapted as a template for the students to present information on a favourite bird that they have researched. The inclusion of maps, size comparison, feather sample and other images would encourage the students to find out this information for their own final presentation. This is a good looking book well worth a look. --Peter Hope, VIC [PRINT] Let's Find Out - Science Teachers Association VIC Backyard Birdies is a wonderful picture book for young children who love to laugh and learn about Australian birds such as the Bin Chicken, the White Ibis or our Aussie Budgie. The delightful illustrations bring to life these bird characters, so children can be educated, while also taking in the soft colours and lovely story lines.--QLD [PRINT] The Courier Mail Here's a handy first field guide packed full of fascinating facts about Australia's most common backyard birds. Author and illustrator Andy Geppert says that some of these facts are even true. Others, he has made up. For example, some pigeons are white; that is because it has just had a bath. A clever contents page leads you to your bird of choice and there is room for a tick if you spot one in your park or garden. There is a map of where they are usually found, together with size and colour. Chickens, budgerigars, willie wagtails, bush turkeys and many more will delight little bird-twitchers.--MARY ANN ELLIOTT, QLD [PRINT] Toowoomba Chronicle The delightful illustrations bring to life these bird characters, so children can be educated, while also taking in the soft colours and lovely story lines.--QLD [PRINT] Sunday Mail Brisbane [AUDIENCE: 289,888, ASR: 6,354] In this introduction to the birds commonly seen in Australian backyards, including large inflatable flamingoes and swans, Andy Geppert mixes a few basic facts with a lot of humour to make for an enjoyable read for young children who will just be noticing the differences between the species. Clever illustrations and funny text combine to make this the most unusual field guide but one which will pique little ones' curiosity and have them trying to identify the birds that they see. They could even make a chart and mark each one off as it is spotted from their window, beginning their skills in data gathering, mapping and interpretation! It's the simple things.... --Barbara Braxton, NSW [ONLINE] NSW School Library Matters