Have You Seen Birds?

My mom bought me this book when I was little and I just loved it! In fact, I still have the copy she bought me. I will treasure it always. All the varieties of birds Barbara sculpts out of clay to illustrate the pages are just amazing! Sure to keep the attention of children as the story is being read and also keep the parent interested as well. Barbara has a wide variety of childrens books out which she illustrates with clay. Some of her books are perfect as readers for children in school and others are better for smaller children like her "Zoey" series.

Both of my little ones like this book. It is a simple read with plenty of rhymes and fun pictures. However, it is not too simple because within the rhymes the little ones can learn quite a bit about birds and bird behavior. My little boy saw the blackbirds on the "summer garden birds" page and said they looked like grackles and acted like them too with all of their splashing and mess-making. My littlest one likes all of the bird sounds you do while reading the book such as the quarreling-in-a-rage birds, tweeting-in-a-cage birds, squealing, squawking, screeching, talking,... Well worth the money if your little ones like to look outside for birds, or point to birds while they're in the car on a trip.

This book is very fun to read and of particular interest to toddlers. I absolutely love Barbara Reid's plasticene illustrations. The poetry in the book is wonderful. The book takes about 5 minutes to read, and it is easy for a young toddler to join in. The text is repetitious without being monotanous.It is one of my 22 month old's favorite books.

This charming little book uses alliteration, assonance, and rhyming words to describe various types of birds and how they live. The sentences are written in poetry that's cadence and structure enhances the types of birds being discussed. The claymation illustrations are playful and capture children's imagination, but without distracting from the focus of the book's lessons. A fun book to read.

My two year old adores birds, and of all of our bird books, this is one of his absolute favorites. I'm not sure how much of the text he understands, but the illustrations, done in clay art, are beautiful, and he loves to identify the various species. I don't mind reading it over and over because the poetic text stands up to intense rereadings and I love the cadence and rhythm of the text. The author has managed to emulate the careening freedom of flight by the flitting, dipping, racing style of her poetry. This is one of those books I wish we had in hardcover.