Woodpecker Wham!

by April Pulley Sayre, Steve Jenkins (Illustrator)

Overview

Explore the world of woodpeckers in this award-winning nonfiction picture book from celebrated author April Pulley Sayre and Caldecott Honor illustrator Steve Jenkins—now featuring updated end matter with even more illuminating info about these amazing creatures.

Swoop and land.
Hitch and hop.
Shred a tree stump.
Chop, chip, chop!

Get a bird’s-eye view of everyday woodpecker life: hiding from hawks, feeding hungry chicks, and drilling holes for nests. Woodpeckers are also nature’s home builders, creating holes that many other animals live in when the woodpeckers move on. Meet the variety of woodpecker species that soar through these pages!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781665980548
Publisher:	Beach Lane Books
Publication date:	11/04/2025
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	40
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

April Pulley Sayre (1966–2021) was the award-winning author of more than fifty-five natural science books for children and adults, including her award-winning photo-illustrated books Being Frog, Raindrops Roll, and Best in Snow. Sayre’s books received an abundance of starred reviews, have been dubbed ALA Notable Books (Raindrops Roll; Rah, Rah, Radishes) and won a Geisel Honor (Vulture View). Learn more at AprilSayre.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.

Editorial Reviews

With bouncy verse and colorful illustrations, an experienced picture-book team introduces a familiar bird . . . Attractive and surprising informative, this should join the duo's Eat Like a Bear on every preschool and primary nature shelf.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Lovely and exciting, this title is a great hook for young researchers, as well as fledgling ornithologists.” —School Library Journal, starred review

“This strikes the right note for budding bird-watchers.” —Booklist

“Sayre introduces the distinctively noisy woodpecker and the rhythmic cadences that fill [a woodpecker's] industrious life through a rhyming, sound word-filled text. . . . Jenkins's cut- and torn-paper collage illustrations provide action-filled perspectives on the birds swooping, pecking, fanning, and preening, with the intricacies of each species' feathers and markings carefully featured.” —The Horn Book

“Kids who think that eating like a bear means roaring around and nomming everything in sight are in for a surprise.” —BCCB, starred review on Eat Like a Bear

“Equal parts poetic and enlightening.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review on Eat Like a Bear

“Inquisitive, informed and lyrical.” —Kirkus, starred review on Eat Like a Bear

“Rarely has a book about these scavengers gotten such a gorgeous treatment.” —Booklist, starred review on Vulture View

From the Publisher

2015-02-03
With bouncy verse and colorful illustrations, an experienced picture-book team introduces a familiar bird.Focusing on six woodpecker species common in eastern deciduous forests—downy, red-bellied, red-headed and pileated woodpeckers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers and northern flickers—Sayre describes typical behaviors: shredding, carving, drilling, messaging, feeding, cleaning, courting, hiding, nesting, nurturing and storing food. She even mentions their useful seed-enriched droppings. Each page or spread includes a well-rhymed and rhythmic quatrain set on an illustration showing the action described. Repetitive onomatopoeic sounds such as "CHOP, CHIP, CHOP!" and "BONK-BONK-BONK" combine with plentiful alliteration to make the simple verses come alive. Each species is recognizable in Jenkins' cut-and-torn-paper collages by its head markings (but not so clearly from the striped and spotted bodies). The birds are shown in their usual habitat over four seasons, sometimes up close and sometimes from a middle distance. A particularly appealing image shows a flicker gorging on cherries, its head and upper body stained with the juice. The pictured birds are identified in thumbnail illustrations included in the extensive backmatter for older readers and adults: six pages of description of the woodpecker world which amplify the read-aloud text. Attractive and surprisingly informative, this should join the duo's Eat Like a Bear (2013) on every preschool and primary nature shelf. (Informational picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews