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Library | Call Number | Status |
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Searching... Silver Falls Library | JP FRANCO | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Jefferson Public Library | P FRANCO, B. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Franco | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Mount Angel Public Library | E FRANCO | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Salem Main Library | JP Franco | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stayton Public Library | E FRANCO | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
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Summary
Summary
The sky is quiet.
The yard is quiet.
The creek is quietly gurgling.
Then... tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat, tat! A red-capped woodpecker starts his rap for the day. Next comes nine soft coos from the mourning doves, followed by the chipping of a flurry of sparrows. And on go the birdsongs throughout the day.
Celebrate neighborhood birds in this poetic picture book, and count their sounds backward from ten to one, until all is quiet in the yard again.
Author Notes
Betsy Franco is the author of numerous books for children, including Counting Our Way to the 100th Day! and Mathematickles! , both illustrated by Steven Salerno; and Birdsongs , illustrated by Steve Jenkins. She and her husband live in Palo Alto, California. They have three sons -- two actors and a sculptor. Visit Betsy's website at www.betsyfranco.com.
Steven Jenkins (1952-2021) was the illustrator of many celebrated children's books including Can an Aardvark Bark? and Fourteen Monkeys by Melissa Stewart; Hello, Baby! by Mem Fox; Mama Built a Little Nest and Mama Dug a Little Den by Jennifer Ward; and the 2003 Caldecott Honor recipient, What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? , which he created with his wife, Robin Page . Learn more about his life and work at SteveJenkinsBooks.com.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-This lavishly illustrated count-it-down story describes a day filled with birdsong. At sunrise, a woodpecker "raps a tap dance with his beak, pecking 10 times as he looks for breakfast bugs." The illustration shows a dazzling redheaded woodpecker working on a tree, with 10 "tats" in various sizes scattered across the pages. Each successive spread features a different type of bird with a declining number of utterances. For example, mourning doves land on a telephone wire and "coo" to one another nine times; sparrows crowd around a bird feeder and emit eight "chirps." At day's end, a mockingbird mimics all of the songs she has heard, resulting in a true cacophony of sounds (and a fun challenge for reading aloud). In his vivid, realistic-looking collages, Jenkins uses accurate textures and colors for each species, and creates the appearance of depth, light, and warmth (the chickadees, described as making a tree look "like a candelabra," are divine). The writing is lyrical and engaging, and quick "feathery facts" about the creatures are appended. This book, which pairs nicely with Aileen Fisher's Know What I Saw? (Roaring Brook, 2005) and Ann Jonas's Bird Talk (Greenwillow, 1999), will engender a love for birds and an awareness of their unique music.-Teresa Pfeifer, Alfred Zanetti Montessori Magnet School, Springfield, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Franco (Mathematickles!) and 2004 Caldecott Honor artist Jenkins (What Do You Do with a Tail Like This?) celebrate the free concert that birds perform for backyard audiences every day. There's a method to their merriment: as the book introduces various species, it uses their sounds to count down from 10 to one. At dawn, a hungry, red-capped woodpecker "raps a tap dance with his beak, pecking 10 times as he looks for breakfast bugs." By the time evening shadows gather, a tiny hummingbird emits a single, comically evocative "tzik" as she "sucks one last treat from the trumpet-shaped honeysuckle in the garden." (It's not the last word, however-that's provided by a mockingbird who recapitulates all the sounds she's heard from her fellow feathered creatures that day.) Jenkins's gorgeous, boldly graphic collages make the birds seem at once familiar and magical; in the startling close-ups and dramatic framings, the winged creatures seem to fly off the page. The generous typography used for the birds' sounds is certain to inspire plenty of audience participation, as youngsters attempt to "eeyah" like a gull, "dee dee" like a chickadee and "caw" like a crow. Ages 3-7. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
In the front yard, a red-capped woodpecker is working on a hole-pocked pine tree."" From ten taps of a woodpecker at dawn to a single note from a tiny hummingbird at dusk, Franco's straightforward text introduces ten common birds and their distinct sounds. Jenkins's signature collage illustrations are a visual treat. Some additional information about the featured birds is appended. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
From the "tat tats" of a woodpecker to the "tzik" of a hummingbird, this is an appealing day-long countdown of birdsongs, accompanied by short descriptions of some typical activities for each bird mentioned. Jenkins's signature cut-paper collages depict the birds so accurately they can easily be identified. Unfortunately, some identifications will be different from the words in the text. The "red-capped woodpecker" is clearly red-headed, the "chipping sparrows" are house sparrows and chickadees are more usually named for their black caps than their white cheeks. Although parents and caregivers drawn by the naturalistic detail will be put off by this mislabeling, young listeners may be more engaged by the game of counting the birdsongs: ten tats, nine coos, eight chips and so on, ending with the mockingbird's lovely nighttime rendition of all she has heard during the day. "Feathery facts" in the last two pages add something about each species. A commendable concept that just misses the mark. (Picture book/nonfiction. 3-7) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Jenkins' signature collages of shaped, painted, and textured papers once again dazzle the eye and warm the imagination. Franco spins a nature lesson in lucid language and throws in a counting exercise, too. Just after daybreak, a woodpecker raps a tap dance with his beak 10 times. The tat-tat-tats are sprinkled across the spread in varying font sizes. Mourning doves coo nine times. The dee-dee-dees--six of them--from the chickadees are interrupted by the appearance of the cat. Jenkins works astonishing detail into the close-ups of his avian subjects, and Franco's fresh imagery (enough chickadees in a tree to make it look like a candelabra and a robins heavy with eggs ) counts down to the hummingbird's one tiny sound. At dusk, the mockingbird repeats every song she has heard all day. Charming. --GraceAnne DeCandido Copyright 2007 Booklist