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

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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 sooo hard to narrow it down to only 10 books, but I tried to choose both picture book 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 bird-y 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’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.

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