Skip to content
Pragmatic Mom
Menu
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Policies
    • Media Kit
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright
    • KidLit Blogroll
  • My Book Lists
    • My List of Lists
    • Multicultural Books for Children: 60+ Book Lists
    • #OwnVoices
    • Summer Reading Lists for Middle School Kids
    • Asian American Children’s Books
    • African American Children’s Books
    • Arab American Children’s Books
    • Latinx American Children’s Books
    • Native American Children’s Books
    • LGBTQIA+ Children’s Books
    • Diverse Books for Kids
    • Best Books for Kids
  • Education
    • STEM/STEAM
    • Math
    • Social Studies
    • Art Projects for Kids
    • Applying to Art School
    • Applying to College
    • Book Club for Kids
    • 70+ Free Educational Games
  • Controversial
    • Sexual Misconduct in Children’s Book Publishing #MeToo #TimesUp
    • Rethinking & Examining Dr. Seuss’ Racism
    • Blood Feud over YA #BloodHeir
    • Tulsa Race Massacre: What They Don’t Teach You in History Books
    • The Chinese Exclusion Act – What They Don’t Teach in History Books
    • Segregation in California Schools: What They Don’t Teach in History Books
    • SCBWI Minnesota Racist Illustration and Gaslighting Response
  • My Books
    • My Book Announcements
    • The Traveling Taco on Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025!
    • We Sing From the Heart makes Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year 2025!
    • The Traveling Taco featured in Booklist
    • Origami French Fries: Activity for THE TRAVELING TACO
    • Book Announcement: A Place to Call Home! {and a new title …}
    • FOOD FOR THE FUTURE makes Sunshine State Young Readers Award Orange Blossom List for Nonfiction!
    • Cover Reveal of my latest picture book … FORTUNE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE!
    • Picture Book Announcement! BARBED WIRE BETWEEN US, illustrated by Violeta Encarnación
    • We Sing From the Heart gets a few stickers!
    • Book Announcement! Postcards from Malcolm X: How Yuri Kochiyama Became a Civil Rights Activist
    • Kirkus Reviews My Newest Picture Book: THE TRAVELING TACO
    • We Sing From the Heart is a Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Winner!
    • We Sing From the Heart gets a few stickers!
    • WE SING FROM THE HEART wins California Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Award
    • WE SING FROM THE HEART is Orbis Pictus Recommended Book
    • WE SING FROM THE HEART is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection
    • Dorktales Podcast: Simon Tam, Hidden Hero of History
    • Food for the Future Wins Nautilus Silver Book Award
    • Food for the Future makes Mass Book Award Long List!
    • FOOD FOR THE FUTURE Makes Green Earth Book Award Long List!
    • Food for the Future is a finalist for 2023 INDIES Book of the Year!
    • New! Food for the Future Activity and Discussion Guide!
    • FOOD FOR THE FUTURE is a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection!
    • ‘Food for the Future’ selected for Chicago Public Library’s Best of the Best books
    • Scholastic Purchased CHANGING THE GAME!
    • Starred Review for FOOD FOR THE FUTURE from School Library Journal!
    • Sumo Joe makes Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year list!
    • How To Coach Girls wins Silver Award!
    • Posts on My Books
  • My Book Events
    • My Book Events
    • I’m Signing Books at ALA 2025 in Philly!
Menu
STEM Bird Books for Bird-Watching Kids

Top 10 STEM Bird Books for Bird-Watching Kids

Posted on June 13, 2018April 20, 2024 by Pragmatic Mom

Please welcome my guest author today, Maria Gianfererrai with a STEM list for bird-watching and/or bird-loving kids! We are also giving away a copy of her newest nonfiction picture book, Hawk Rising, illustrated by Caldecott winner Brian Floca! To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter at the bottom.

Hawk Rising by Maria Gianferrari, illustrated by Brian Floca

Both a girl and a father hawk watch and wait, while the baby chicks wait for a meal. In lyrical prose, Hawk Rising shows the circle of life drama in a backyard. You only need binoculars and patience to spectate. [nonfiction picture book, ages 4 and up]

p.s. Free bird journal for kids from Doodles and Jots

p.p.s. More bird posts:

A Flock of Books About Birds

The Science of Owls and Bats Through Picture Books

Baltimore the Snowy Owl and Owl Books for Kids

Birds of North Captiva, Florida, Saved from Extinction

p.p.p.s. A nonfiction book for bird watching:

Backyard Birding for Kids: An Introduction to Ornithology (Field Guide, Projects, and More!) by Erika Zambello

This handy guide is small enough to fit into a pocket to take with you as you hike around looking for birds. Color photographs make it easy and fun to identify birds. [nonfiction field guide, for ages 6 and up]

Backyard Birding for Kids: An Introduction to Ornithology

———-

This bird nerd is as happy as a lark! I’m celebrating the release of my first bird book, Hawk Rising, with a list of some of my favorite bird books. It was so hard to narrow it down to only 10 books, but I tried to choose both picture books and middle-grade nonfiction books that may not be as well known.

 

Top 10 STEM Bird Books for Bird-Loving Kids!

Take wing and soar with these birdy books!

1. Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard by Annette LeBlanc Cate

Winner of a Sibert honor, this is an entertaining and informative intro to bird-watching and identification. [nonfiction guidebook, ages 9 and up]

2. Robins! How They Grow Up by Eileen Christelow

Another fun intro to one of our most well-known and beloved birds. I love how robins nest in unusual places, like the hoe hanging in the artist’s garden shed. [nonfiction picture book, ages 6 and up]

3. Crow Smarts: Inside the Brain of the World’s Brightest Bird by Pamela Turner

What does the crow know? Read this fascinating book and find out about these clever corvids. [nonfiction chapter book, ages 10 and up]

4. Alex the Parrot: No Ordinary Bird by Stephanie Spinner, illustrated by Meilo So

Meet Alex, the African Grey Parrot, who learned to count, add and subtract, recognize shapes and colors, and to speak and understand hundreds of words. It’s also a friendship story between Alex, and his trainer, Irene Pepperberg. [nonfiction picture book, ages 8 and up]

5. Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Up! Up! I love watching soaring turkey vultures! They’re nature’s great cleaner-uppers with a vital role in supporting ecosystem health. [picture book, ages 5 and up]

6. Woodpecker Wham! by April Pulley Sayre, illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Written in rhyme, and full of onomatopoeic sounds that make this intro to woodpeckers a very rollicking read-aloud. [picture book, ages 4 and up]

7. Beauty and the Beak: How Science, Technology, and a 3-D Printed Beak Rescued a Bald Eagle by Deborah Lee Rose & Jane Veltkamp

Meet Beauty, a bald eagle who was shot, then rescued, and fitted with a 3-D beak—a heartwarming and uplifting story of technology and survival. [nonfiction picture book, ages 8 and up]

8. The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk by Jan Thornhill

This book broke my heart! Thornhill traces the demise and ultimate extinction of the great auk, and the rise of conservation movements to protect wild creatures. A must-read! [picture book, ages 9 and up]

9. The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow by Jan Thornhill

A naturalistic and fascinating history of another ordinary, and yet extraordinarily adaptable bird, the house sparrow. [picture book, ages 9 and up]

10. Moonbird by Phillip Hoose

Another Sibert honor winner: shorebird Rufa Red Knot B95 has lived an astonishingly long life, at least twenty years, and has flown the distance to the moon (and halfway back), more than 325,000 miles, hence his nickname: Moonbird. It’s amazing to think that this bird has survived for so long despite the fact that the red knot population has decreased by nearly 80%, in part due to the destruction of the horseshoe crab population, on whose eggs they feed. [nonfiction chapter book, ages 10 and up]

Plus three oldie-but-goodie bonus favorites

Unbeatable Beaks by Stephen Swinburne

The Boy Who Drew Birds by Jacqueline Davies

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

Five Books for Bird-loving Adults

The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman

Birdology by Sy Montgomery

H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald

Vulture by Katie Fallon

The Race to Save the Good Lord Bird by Phillip Hoose

Hawk Rising GIVEAWAY!

Enter the GIVEAWAY to win your very own copy of Hawk Rising (sorry—US residents only). Please fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks to the folks at Roaring Brook Press for donating a copy, and hearty thanks to Mia for featuring this bird nerd’s feathery list!

Maria Gianferrari

Maria Gianferrari’s favorite pastime is searching for perching red-tailed hawks while driving down the highway. When she’s not driving, she loves watching birdcams. Her favorite feathered stars are Cornell hawk Big Red and her late mate, Ezra, who together raised fifteen chicks since they began nesting in 2012. Maria is also the author of Hello Goodbye Dog and Coyote Moon, both published by Roaring Brook Press as well as the Penny & Jelly Books (HMH), Officer Katz & Houndini (Aladdin), Terrific Tongues (Boyds Mills Press) and the forthcoming Operation Rescue Dog (Little Bee). She lives in Virginia with her scientist husband, artist daughter, and rescue dog, Becca. Visit her at mariagianferrari.com, on Facebook or Instagram.

p.s. Related posts:

Picture Books with Birds as Inspiration or Character

All About Hummingbirds: A Unit for Kids

A Flock of Books about Birds

Birds of North Captiva, Florida, Saved From Extinction!

Osprey Migration Books for Kids

Science of Owls and Bats Through Picture Books

Favorite Owl Children’s Books

To examine any book more closely at Amazon, please click on image of book.

Top 10 STEM Bird Books for Bird-Loving Kids!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Follow PragmaticMom’s board Science Fun on Pinterest.

Follow PragmaticMom’s board STEAM on Pinterest.

 

My books:

We Sing From the Heart picture book cover reveal of The Slants Simon Tam

 Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Cover Reveal: Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime!Amazon / Signed or Inscribed by Me

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World

      • Junior Library Guild Gold selection
      • Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
      • Starred review from School Library Journal
      • Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
      • 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
      • Green Earth Book Award longlist
      • Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids

 Amazon / Barefoot Books / Signed or Inscribed by Me

cover for Sumo JoeChanging the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes by Mia WenjenAmazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me

The Elusive Full Ride Scholarship: An Insider’s Guide

How To Coach Girls by Mia Wenjen and Alison FoleyAsian Pacific American Heroes

16 thoughts on “Top 10 STEM Bird Books for Bird-Watching Kids”

  1. John Smith says:
    June 13, 2018 at 9:36 am

    “What are your favorite books about birds?” Audubon did some good ones!–I used to have a copy of his parrots engraving on the wall years ago!

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      June 16, 2018 at 5:37 pm

      Thanks for entering John!

      Reply
    2. Maria Gianferrari says:
      June 22, 2018 at 5:24 pm

      Lucky you, John!! That’s another reason why I love Jackie’s biography of Audubon.

      Reply
  2. Jennifer Oliger says:
    June 13, 2018 at 3:19 pm

    My favorite bird book is Hummingbird Nest: A Journal of Poems. It chronicles two months of what happens when hummingbirds nest from building the nest to the babies hatching and growing.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      June 16, 2018 at 5:37 pm

      I love hummingbirds! Thanks for the great book recommendation Jennifer!

      Reply
    2. Maria Gianferrari says:
      June 22, 2018 at 5:24 pm

      I’m not familiar with that title, Jennifer–I’ll have to look for it. Thanks for the recommendation!

      Reply
  3. Patricia Tilton says:
    June 15, 2018 at 10:41 pm

    I’ve noticed more MG novels with bird watching themes in the last two years. Hope it continues.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      June 16, 2018 at 5:41 pm

      Hi Pat,
      Yay for bird watching themes in middle grade novels!

      Reply
    2. Maria Gianferrari says:
      June 22, 2018 at 5:25 pm

      I have noticed that too, Patricia, and I am the happier for it 🙂

      Reply
  4. jen Dieleman says:
    June 16, 2018 at 11:24 am

    I am such a fan of Marias and this book looks like another fantastic one. I’m so glad that “The Boy Who Drew Birds” is on your list. Its one of my favorites.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      June 16, 2018 at 5:43 pm

      I will have to add The Boy Who Drew Birds to my TBR pile! Thanks for the heads up Jen!

      Reply
    2. Maria Gianferrari says:
      June 22, 2018 at 5:26 pm

      Thanks for the kind words, Jen :). It is such a lovely book, both Jackie’s text and Melissa Sweet’s perfectly complementary art.

      Reply
  5. Leela says:
    July 7, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    One of my kids favorites is The Bird Alphabet Book.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      July 9, 2018 at 4:14 pm

      That sounds like a lovely alphabet book! Thanks for sharing Leela!

      Reply
  6. Brenda Robinson says:
    July 11, 2018 at 2:33 pm

    Honestly I don’t have a favorite bird book. I like pet birds and when I was a teenage I had a budgie book that I wore out. I kept budgies as a pet. Later in life, I had finches, and love birds.

    Reply
    1. Pragmatic Mom says:
      July 12, 2018 at 5:33 pm

      Hi Brenda,
      Thanks so much for entering. What a great experience to raise birds as pets!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Looking for something? Search here.

I’m Mia Wenjen!

Mia Wenjen Pragmatic Mom

Hi, I’m Mia Wenjen. Nice to meet you!

I blog excessively about diverse children’s books (picture books through middle grade). I am also the co-founder of Read Your World Celebrates Multicultural Children’s Book Day on Jan 25, 2024, our 11th year!

I’d love to chat with you. Let’s connect! PragmaticMomBlog (at) gmail (dot) com or through my social media handles.

Free Blog Updates in your Inbox (RSS feed)

Monthly Newsletter with Subscriber Only Giveaways in your Inbox

My Linktree (click for my links & socials)

my linktree

My Websites

  • How To Coach Girls
  • I Love Newton
  • Mia Wenjen (My New Author Website)

Camp Cody: Overnight Camp in New Hampshire

Read Your World LGBTQIA+ Books Save Lives Merch!

https://www.pragmaticmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Read-Your-World-FINAL-Merchandise-Video.mp4

Purchase Read Your World Merch

LGBTQIA+ Books Save Lives Merch.

Buy it here!

Search Amazon

Find Children's Books

Newton Children’s Book Festival 2025

Newton Children's Book Festival 2025

Get My Books Signed or Inscribed through my shop (click to purchase)

Mia Wenjen signed books

Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime! (click to purchase)

Cover Reveal: Boxer Baby Battles Bedtime!

We Sing From the Heart (click to pre-order)

We Sing From the Heart picture book cover reveal of The Slants Simon Tam

FOOD FOR THE FUTURE (click to purchase)

Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World by Mia Wenjen, illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng

CHANGING THE GAME (click to purchase)

Changing the Game: Asian Pacific American Female Athletes by Mia Wenjen

SUMO JOE (click to purchase)

Sumo Joe cover reveal

Asian Pacific American Heroes (click to purchase)

Asian Pacific American Heroes by Mia Wenjen

GNOMES & UNGNOMES: Poems of Hidden Creatures // I have 3 haiku poems (click to purchase)

GNOMES & UNGNOMES: Poems of Hidden Creatures 3 haiku by Mia Wenjen
Read Your World is Multicultural Children's Book Day

ClothingRIC- A Premium Coupon Website!

ThingsFromMars- The Wondrous World of Wacky Gift Products!

How to Get Kids Reading

  • Multicultural Books for Children: 60+ Book Lists
  • Getting Kids to Love Reading
  • Summer Reading Lists for Kids By Grade
  • Summer Reading Lists for Middle School Kids

Heim Nest Kid Mattress Exclusive Deal

Heim Nest Kid Mattress

AdvancedWriters.com is an expert writing service which helps students with academic writing.

educational toys

CEX.IO is a versatile crypto exchange platform where users can buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies, as well as access resources and tools to learn how to trade effectively.

MyPaperDone.com
is surely one of the best when it comes to paper writing assistance.

My Custom Essay
will guide you through academic life.

Essay Writing Services

If you ask "write my essay", Topessaywriting can help you with paper writing

TranslationReport can help you to choose the best translation service

If you are looking for the most trusted essay writing service, check this article about best essay writing service reviews at Econotimes

educational toys from dhgate stores

Assignment Writing Services Offer Assignment Assistance In UK Based Company 50% Discount Students

Playing at online casinos can be an exciting and rewarding experience, and you can find the best options at casinoszondercruksonline.com. 

For those seeking a safe and reputable gambling experience, the Meest betrouwbare buitenlandse casino lijst is an invaluable resource.

Archives

Categories

The Elusive Full Ride Scholarship (click to purchase)

The Elusive Full Ride Scholarship: An Insider’s Guide

HOW TO COACH GIRLS (click to purchase)

How To Coach Girls silver award winner

Archives

I’ll be sharing WHAT I WISH I KNEW BEFORE I STARTED MY KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

HOW TO COACH GIRLS book trailer by Mia Wenjen & Alison Foley

https://youtu.be/j74M0bBxrGg

Recent Posts

  • My Daughter’s Start Up SWARM wins $100k from VentureCat! June 20, 2025
  • The Traveling Taco on Reading Rockets’ Summer Reading Guide 2025! June 18, 2025
  • Cover Reveal for Fight for the Right to Read June 16, 2025
  • We Sing From the Heart makes Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year 2025! June 13, 2025
  • Sumo Joe turns 6 Years Old and 6 book GIVEAWAY! June 11, 2025

Categories

© 2025 Pragmatic Mom | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
SAVE & ACCEPT