Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95

by Phillip Hoose

Overview

B95 can feel it: a stirring in his bones and feathers. It's time. Today is the day he will once again cast himself into the air, spiral upward into the clouds, and bank into the wind.

He wears a black band on his lower right leg and an orange flag on his upper left, bearing the laser inscription B95. Scientists call him the Moonbird because, in the course of his astoundingly long lifetime, this gritty, four-ounce marathoner has flown the distance to the moon—and halfway back!

B95 is a robin-sized shorebird, a red knot of the subspecies rufa. Each February he joins a flock that lifts off from Tierra del Fuego, headed for breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic, nine thousand miles away. Late in the summer, he begins the return journey.

B95 can fly for days without eating or sleeping, but eventually he must descend to refuel and rest. However, recent changes at ancient refueling stations along his migratory circuit—changes caused mostly by human activity—have reduced the food available and made it harder for the birds to reach. And so, since 1995, when B95 was first captured and banded, the worldwide rufa population has collapsed by nearly 80 percent. Most perish somewhere along the great hemispheric circuit, but the Moonbird wings on. He has been seen as recently as November 2011, which makes him nearly twenty years old. Shaking their heads, scientists ask themselves: How can this one bird make it year after year when so many others fall?

National Book Award–winning author Phillip Hoose takes us around the hemisphere with the world's most celebrated shorebird, showing the obstacles rufa red knots face, introducing a worldwide team of scientists and conservationists trying to save them, and offering insights about what we can do to help shorebirds before it's too late. With inspiring prose, thorough research, and stirring images, Hoose explores the tragedy of extinction through the triumph of a single bird. Moonbird is one The Washington Post's Best Kids Books of 2012.

A Common Core Title.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374304683
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	07/17/2012
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	306,908
Product dimensions:	8.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.65(d)
Lexile:	1150L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Phillip Hoose is the widely-acclaimed author of the National Book Award winner Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice, which is also a Newbery Honor Book, a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book, a YALSA Finalist for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction, and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, among other honors. His other books include The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, winner of the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and We Were There, Too!, a National Book Award Finalist. Mr. Hoose lives in Portland, Maine.

Reading Group Guide

B95 can feel it: a stirring in his bones and feathers. It's time. Today is the day he will once again cast himself into the air, spiral upward into the clouds, and bank into the wind. He wears a black band on his lower right leg and an orange flag on his upper left, bearing the laser inscription B95. Scientists call him the Moonbird because, in the course of his astoundingly long lifetime, this gritty, four-ounce marathoner has flown the distance to the moon—and halfway back! B95 is a robin-sized shorebird, a red knot of the subspecies rufa. He can fly for days without eating or sleeping, but eventually he must descend to refuel and rest. However, recent changes at ancient refueling stations along his migratory circuit—caused mostly by human activity—have reduced the food available and made it harder for the birds to reach. Since 1995, the worldwide rufa population has collapsed by nearly 80 percent. Most perish somewhere along the great hemispheric circuit, but the Moonbird wings on. He has been seen as recently as November 2011, which makes him nearly twenty years old. Shaking their heads, scientists ask themselves: How can this one bird make it year after year when so many others fall?

National Book Award–winning author Phillip Hoose takes us around the hemisphere with the world's most celebrated shorebird, showing the obstacles rufa red knots face, introducing a worldwide team of scientists and conservationists trying to save them, and offering insights about what we can do to help shorebirds before it's too late. With inspiring prose, thorough research, and stirring images, Hoose explores the tragedy of extinction through the triumph of a single bird.
This guide was created in alignment with the Common Core State Standards. Questions and activities develop skills outlined in Reading Standards for Informational Text and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Writing, and Speaking and Listening. In an effort to support educators, reference is made to specific anchor standards where appropriate.

Music/Speaking: Research songs from different genres written about the environment, including Phillip Hoose's "The Delaware Bay Blues". Divide the class into groups. Each group analyzes its song's lyrics and techniques and prepares for and holds a class debate to argue which song is most effective in sending its message about the environment. R.1, R.4, R9, W.1, W.7, SL.1, SL.4, L.1, L.3, L.5

Writing: Read the Smithsonian Magazine article "Return of the Sandpiper" by Abigail Tucker (Oct. 2009) and the New York Times article "Casualties of Toronto's Urban Skies" by Ian Austen (Oct. 2012). Watch videos from People for the ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Research how various media influence their audience. Compare and contrast these techniques with those used in MOONBIRD. Using supporting evidence, write a persuasive essay arguing which techniques are the most effective and why. R.1, R.2, R.4, R.5, R.6, R.7, R.9, R.10, W.1, W.4, W.5, W.7, SL.2, SL.3, L.1, L.2, L.5

Multimedia: Research public service announcements, videos, films, podcasts, and other media whose message it is to protect the environment. Analyze how they create their message. Divide the class into groups. Each group chooses an environmental issue and creates a multimedia presentation using similar techniques/strategies. The class debates and votes on the most affecting and effective message and shares with appropriate local officials to try to make change in environmental policies. R.3, R.4, R.6, R.7, R.8, R.9, W.1, W.6, W.7, W.10, SL.1, SL.2, SL.3, SL.4, SL.5, SL.6, L.1, L.3, L.5, L.6

Art/Photography: Teacher creates Gallery Walk in the classroom. Hang conservation photographs around the room with poster paper below each. Include photographs from MOONBIRD. Students walk around the room in groups, discuss what methods the photographer uses to move his/her audience and to convey his/her message, and jot notes onto the poster paper. After 3 minutes, the groups continue on to the next photograph and repeat. As a whole class, discuss what messages are conveyed through the photographs, and how they are most effectively communicated. R.7, SL.1, SL.6, L.1

Writing: How does Hoose make his readers care so much about B95 and the red rufas? Analyze the choices Hoose makes in his nonfiction book to open up our hearts. Find "bird-loving pen pals" at http://www.fws.gov/sssp and explain in your letter to them 3 ways Hoose most affected you with his writing and his choices. Be sure to use specific examples. (Consider personification of B95, structure of the book, inspirational quotations opening each chapter, profiles of researchers so we get to know them as real people, photography, addressing of opposing views, connection of nature to human needs, stories about how young people can get involved, etc.) Ask your pen pals what they liked about Hoose's book and look forward to them writing back! R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.5, R.6, W.2, W.4, W.5, W.9, W.10, L.1, L.2, L.3, L.5

Science/Social Advocacy: Set up a banding expedition…in your own classroom! Research the steps, tools and latest inventions used to create a successful expedition. Classroom groups may include the scientists who measure and weigh the birds, the cannon net team, volunteers who help band and transport birds, etc. Record your "findings". Volunteer for a real banding expedition and as a class write an op-ed piece to your school or town's newspaper highlighting knowledge learned and persuading your peers to get involved. R.10, W.1, W.2, W.4, W.5, W.7, W.10, SL.1, SL.6, L.1, L.2, L.6

Art/History/Science: Create an informational packet on the red rufas' migratory circuit. Divide the class into groups. Each group researches a different stop along the circuit and creates a visual representation that informs the reader about that location's geography, climate, environmental policies, history, local industries, pollution levels, etc. and how these all play a part in the success of the red rufas. Also include information about your local birds! Look out your window: how are they different from each other and from the red rufas? What are their behaviors? Each group presents to the rest of the class. Combine each group's work to create an informational packet. Mail the packet to another school to help them learn more about the red rufas' remarkable journey and your local winged friends. R.1, R.10, W.2, W.7, W.9, SL.1, SL.4, SL.6, L.1, L.6

History/Writing: What does success look like? Choose an historical figure that you view as "successful". In an essay, explain your definition of "success" and compare and contrast B95's qualities that led to his success with those of this person's from history. Use significant supporting evidence to make your argument. R.1, R.2, R.3, R.10, W.1, W.2, W.4, W.5, W.7, W.8, W.9, W.10, L.1, L.2

Editorial Reviews

With an effective mix of facts and conjecture, Hoose conveys B95's wide experience, from the challenges of his first month in Arctic Canada 20 years ago to the physical demands of flying for three days straight. Hoose's vivid prose and the book's close-up photos give a sense of other red-knot talents, like fattening up for a long flight and sleeping while staying alert for predators.

The Washington Post - Abby McGanney Nolan

National Book Award–winner Hoose (Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice) introduces readers to the small rufa red knot shorebird known as B95, which makes an 18,000-mile migratory circuit from the bottom of the world to the top and back again each year. “Something about this bird was exceptional; he seemed to possess some extraordinary combination of physical toughness, navigational skill, judgment, and luck,” writes Hoose. Eight chapters offer an extraordinarily detailed look at everything red knot, from a description of its migratory paths and the food found at each stopover to the physiology of its bill and factors that threaten the species with extinction. Profiles of bird scientists or activists conclude most chapters. The information-packed narrative jumps between past and present as it follows a postulated migration of B95, accompanied by numerous sidebars, diagrams, maps, and full-color photographs. Readers will appreciate Hoose’s thorough approach in contextualizing this amazing, itinerant creature that was last spotted in 2011. Those motivated to action will find an appendix of ways to get involved. An index, extensive source notes, and bibliography are included. Ages 10–up. (July)

Publishers Weekly

[A] deeply researched, engaging account…” —School Library Journal, starred

“Putting an actual beaked face to the problem of animal endangerment makes the story of the species' peril all the more compelling, and only the truly hard of heart could resist cheering for B95 to make it through one more trip.” —BCCB, Starred

“With an effective mix of facts and conjecture, Hoose conveys B95's wide experience, from the challenges of his first month in Arctic Canada 20 years ago to the physical demands of flying for three days straight. Hoose's vivid prose and the book's close-up photos give a sense of other red-knot talents, like fattening up for a long flight and sleeping while staying alert for predators. And there's recent good news: B95 was photographed in late May, feasting on horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay. ” —The Washington Post

“Hoose's fascinating account concerns much more than this one bird.” —Horn Book, starred

“...beautiful and vivid…” —VOYA

“Hoose's stature as a preeminent nonfiction author combined with the high-interest animal hook will generate hearty attention and enthusiasm for this one.” —Booklist, starred

“Readers will appreciate Hoose's thorough approach in contextualizing this amazing, itinerant creature…” —Publishers Weekly, starred

“Meticulously researched and told with inspiring prose and stirring images, this is a gripping, triumphant story of science and survival. ” —Kirkus, starred

From the Publisher

"[A] deeply researched, engaging account…”—School Library Journal, starred

"Putting an actual beaked face to the problem of animal endangerment makes the story of the species’ peril all the more compelling, and only the truly hard of heart could resist cheering for B95 to make it through one more trip.”—BCCB, Starred

"With an effective mix of facts and conjecture, Hoose conveys B95’s wide experience, from the challenges of his first month in Arctic Canada 20 years ago to the physical demands of flying for three days straight. Hoose’s vivid prose and the book’s close-up photos give a sense of other red-knot talents, like fattening up for a long flight and sleeping while staying alert for predators. And there’s recent good news: B95 was photographed in late May, feasting on horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay. "—The Washington Post

"Hoose’s fascinating account concerns much more than this one bird.”—Horn Book, starred

"...beautiful and vivid…”—VOYA

"Hoose's stature as a preeminent nonfiction author combined with the high-interest animal hook will generate hearty attention and enthusiasm for this one.”—Booklist, starred

 

"Readers will appreciate Hoose’s thorough approach in contextualizing this amazing, itinerant creature…”—Publishers Weekly, starred

 

"Meticulously researched and told with inspiring prose and stirring images, this is a gripping, triumphant story of science and survival. “—Kirkus, starred

Before devouring Phillip Hoose’s The Race To Save the Lord God Bird in 2004, this reader had no idea how compelling a book about a bird could be. In Race To Save, the author described the tragedy of a species’ extinction. In this year’s Moonbird, Hoose again tells a riveting story of avian survival, this time through the lens of a single bird, tagged B95, who has flown enough miles in its 20 year lifetime to have gone to the moon, and halfway back. B95 is a rufa, a shorebird, who migrates from South America to the Canadian Arctic. His survival is all the more amazing because during his lifetime, his species’ numbers have been reduced by 80 percent owing to human activity. A beautiful and engaging story of a bird that is so much more than meets the eye.

(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal

Gr 6 Up—Moonbird is a nickname scientists have given to a small Eastern shorebird known for both his unusually long life and his enormously long annual migration. Hoose intertwines the story of this bird's remarkable survival with detailed accounts of the rufa red knot's physical changes through its yearlong cycle of migrating from the bottom of the world (usually Tierra del Fuego) to its Arctic breeding grounds and back again at summer's end-a round trip of some 18,000 miles. Moonbird, known usually by the identifying label "B95" on his orange leg band, was first banded in 1995, when it was thought that he was at least three years old, and Hoose notes sightings of him through early 2011 just as the book was reaching completion. At that point it was estimated that over 20 years' time, B95 had flown "more than 325,000 miles in his life-the distance to the moon and nearly halfway back." The feat is particularly celebrated among bird scientists because this species is rapidly declining as humans use and misuse its feeding grounds and food supply. The threatened state of the species and the personal work being done by scientists and conservationists are strong themes throughout the book. Hoose describes his own experiences participating in study trips and introduces children and teens engaged in study, conservation, and lobbying projects in Canada, the United States, and Argentina. This deeply researched, engaging account is a substantial and well-designed package of information illustrated with handsome color photographs, ample maps, appended descriptions of the conservation work, and thorough source notes.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

School Library Journal

As he did in The Race to Save the Lord God Bird (2004), Hoose explores the tragedy of extinction through a single bird species, but there is hope for survival in this story, and that hope is pinned on understanding the remarkable longevity of a single bird. B95 is a 4-ounce, robin-sized shorebird, a red knot of the subspecies rufa. Each February he joins a flock that lifts off from Tierra del Fuego and heads for breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic, 9,000 miles away. Late in the summer, he begins the return journey. Scientists call him Moonbird because, in the course of his astoundingly long lifetime of nearly 20 years, he has flown the distance to the moon and halfway back. B95 can fly for days without eating or sleeping but eventually must land to refuel and rest. Recent changes, however, at refueling stations along his migratory circuit, most caused by human activity, have reduced the available food. Since 1995, when B95 was captured and banded, the rufa population has collapsed by nearly 80 percent. Scientists want to know why this one bird survives year after year when so many others do not. In a compelling, vividly detailed narrative, Hoose takes readers around the hemisphere, showing them the obstacles rufa red knots face, introducing a global team of scientists and conservationists, and offering insights about what can be done to save them before it's too late. Meticulously researched and told with inspiring prose and stirring images, this is a gripping, triumphant story of science and survival. (photographs, source notes, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 10 & up)

Kirkus Reviews

This book tells the story of a year in the remarkable life of “B95,” a rufa red knot shorebird that has been circumnavigating the globe for two decades. Describing B95 as the “toughest four ounces of life” on earth, author Phillip Hoose has woven an exciting, fact-filled tale of survival that educates and inspires listeners to consider the interconnectedness of human, animal, and plant life. Full of detailed information about bird migration, climate, geography, and natural science, the interplay of story and background information is well balanced by Hoose's even pacing and clear announcements of section breaks. B95 has many champions, including Hoose himself, whose impassioned narration often reveals a genuine sense of awe at B95's endurance despite significant ongoing changes to its ecosystem. A.S. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

FEBRUARY 2013 - AudioFile