Birdlore: The Iridescent Life of Florence Merriam Bailey

by Jess Keating, Devon Holzwarth (Illustrator)

Overview

A picture book presentation "about Florence Merriam Bailey, the groundbreaking scientist who inspired a nation to take up bird-watching and worked tirelessly to protect our feathered friends"--

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593488591
Publisher:	Random House Children's Books
Publication date:	03/18/2025
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	11.25(w) x 9.31(h) x 0.43(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jess Keating is a zoologist-turned-author who writes with the sort of wisdom you can only get from multiple crocodile bites and skunk sprays. She's received oodles of state awards and starred reviews for her books, which include the World of Weird Animals nonfiction series and the biographies Shark Lady and The Girl Who Built an Ocean. Jess lives with her husband in Ontario, Canada.

Devon Holzwarth is an illustrator and writer of picture books full of warmth and charm. She grew up in Panama with the jungle as her garden and parrots and iguanas as pets. Devon earned her BFA in 2000 from the Rhode Island School of Design focusing on screen printing and painting and afterwards lived in California painting murals around the Bay Area, before becoming a children's illustrator. Her previous books include Sydney Taylor Notable book Tia Fortuna's New Home and Schneider Family Book Award winner Listen. She currently lives in Aachen, Germany with her husband, kids, and beloved old hound dog. Learn more at devonholzwarth.com.

Editorial Reviews

"An elegant tribute to Florence Merriam Bailey.... A high-toned and attractively illustrated profile." —Kirkus Reviews

"An inspiring introduction to an unusual and important life, sure to make an avian ally of anyone." —Booklist

From the Publisher

2024-11-09
An elegant tribute to Florence Merriam Bailey (1863-1948), a passionate ornithologist who revolutionized the way scientists and general nature lovers study birds.

In language as lush and floral as Holzwarth’s verdant outdoor scenes, Keating introduces a child who delighted in sitting patiently in the woods with “violets, tiger lilies, and trilliums at her feet,” not only in order to watch birds, but also to take careful notes on their features and behavior. As an adult, outraged by the contemporary fashion of piling feathers and dead birds atop women’s hats, she went on to a long lifetime of popularizing birdwatching rather than harvesting. She promoted protective legislation and led “bird walks” of local followers kitted out with opera glasses. Finally, “with the stirring song of a hermit thrush in her heart,” she turned her years of notes into a series of field guides suitable for professionals and the general public alike. The author makes a solid case that the obscurity Bailey fell into after “her soul took wing” (as she puts it) in 1948 is undeserved. The illustrator closes with a labeled gallery of common birds for readers to spot on the earlier pages or, better yet, outdoors, following a set of basic bird-watching suggestions and guidelines. A few brown faces can be glimpsed among the groups of female students and bird lovers attired in flowing late-19th-century dress who attend the light-skinned crusader’s lectures and expeditions.

A high-toned and attractively illustrated profile. (author’s note)(Picture-book biography. 7-9)

Kirkus Reviews