Hawk Rising

by Maria Gianferrari, Brian Floca (Illustrator)

Overview

Early morning and a ruffle of feathers,

A shadow gliding through the backyard.

High above your house Father Hawk circles, sharp eyes searching for prey. From the front porch, you watch.

Swoosh!

He dives after chipmunks, crows, sparrows, squirrels.

Screech!

The sun sets low in the sky.

What’s for dinner?

A father red-tailed hawk hunts prey for his family in a suburban neighborhood in this thrilling, fierce, and gorgeous nonfiction picture book, Hawk Rising, illustrated by Caldecott medalist Brian Floca.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626720961
Publisher:	Roaring Brook Press
Publication date:	06/05/2018
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	510,715
Product dimensions:	10.10(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Maria Gianferrari’s favorite pastime is searching for perching red-tailed hawks while driving down the highway. When she’s not driving, she’s watching Cornell Hawk mates, Big Red and Ezra, raise their chicks each year via birdcam. She’s the author of Coyote Moon and Hello Goodbye Dog, also published by Roaring Brook Press. Maria lives in Virginia with her scientist husband, artist daughter, and rescue dog, Becca.

Brian Floca is the author and illustrator of numerous award-winning books for young readers, including Locomotive, winner of the Caldecott Medal and a New York Times bestseller, Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, and Lightship, each a Robert F. Sibert Honor book. He is illustrator of many more books, including Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan's Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring, also a Sibert Honor book, Avi’s Poppy Stories series, and Princess Cora and the Crocodile, by Laura Amy Schlitz. Brian was born and raised in Temple, Texas, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

Editorial Reviews

The prose is not cute, but instead informative and painterly…Gianferrari admirably doesn't shy away from precise language, which a child loves to have at hand perhaps even more than an adult does…Children's stories about predators generally either choose to make the predator a villain, or to somehow obscure the predator's way of life. Hawk Rising does something more honest and more interesting—it simply watches.

The New York Times Book Review - Rivka Galchen

★ 03/26/2018
The spare, poetic prose of Gianferrari (Hello Goodbye Dog) joins the realistic watercolors of Floca (Princess Cora and the Crocodile) to present a day in the life of a red-tailed hawk. “Hooked beak, sharp as a knife./ Head turning./ Eyes searching./ Chicks waiting.” Muted hues illustrate moments from Father Hawk’s day as he scans for prey, sunbathes, dives after a chipmunk and sparrows, and finally snags a squirrel to bring back to the nest. All this plays out under the scrutinizing eyes of two young bird-watchers: a girl and her younger sister in a suburban neighborhood, who use binoculars to follow the progress of the feathered hunter. The second-person narration draws parallels between the girls and the hawk, as it also invites readers to imagine themselves in the scenes: “Chicks waiting./ You watching.” Painted from varying angles, dynamic spreads and vignettes present the shifting perspectives of bird-watcher, hawk, and prey. The clever pacing and placement of text match the bird’s actions across, up, and down the page. This captivating introduction to the red-tailed hawk concludes with more than a half-dozen facts about the common bird of prey and further reading. Ages 4–8. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

*"An incredible companion to the author's Coyote Moon...A first purchase for most libraries."—School Library Journal, starred review

*"[A] captivating introduction." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Positively electrifying...[an] absorbing reminder that we need never look far to see wild, beautiful nature."—Kirkus Reviews

"Gianferrari’s poetic text layers lyrical beauty onto a harsh story of survival, and Floca’s luminous scenes convey both honest objectivity—the terrified squirrel racing under the hawk’s shadow and then gripped in its claws—and genuine sensitivity in the parent hawks’ care for their chicks."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

★ 04/01/2018
Gr 1–5—A young unnamed girl observes a father hawk searching for prey to feed his young offspring. Against the morning sky, the bird sits on a pole watching and waiting, until he sees a chipmunk below and dives after it. But the chipmunk escapes. The child continues to watch as the bird embarks on a number of unsuccessful endeavors, including trying to catch a sparrow. As the day sinks toward darkness, the father hawk perches once again to wait and watch—finally, he catches a squirrel. Bird and human rest as the night closes in. The lyrical text captures the excitement of observing red-tailed hawks' hunting efforts in a residential setting. Floca's stunningly accurate watercolor illustrations beautifully complement Gianferrari's text. An incredible companion to the author's Coyote Moon, this latest powerfully demonstrates the wonder that can be found in observing the natural world. Additional information about red-tailed hawks makes the book a valuable educational tool, as well. VERDICT A first purchase for most libraries.—Heidi Grange, Summit Elementary School, Smithfield, UT

School Library Journal

2018-02-19
A male red-tailed hawk leaves a nest full of hatchlings to scout a suburban neighborhood for prey.Similar in tone, setting, and general course to Gianferrari's Coyote Moon, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (2016), the hawk's hunt extends from sunrise to twilight as stretches of "kiting" or "perch-hunting" from atop a utility pole are punctuated by sudden—and, twice, unsuccessful—dives at small creatures, with a mobbing by crows between. Though subject to obtrusively poetic flights ("Dandelions ripple. / Oaks tremble. / Father Hawk perches / and searches"; and, more obscurely, two references to "Mars" rising "red in the sky"), the terse narrative vividly captures both the weary vigil's length and its abrupt moments of mortal drama. Also, even though the text positions readers as "you," one of a pair of brown-skinned siblings who watch from their porch and yard, the narrative is free of anthropomorphic language. Alternating the perspective from ground level to high overhead, Floca depicts the majestic raptor with painterly magnificence, giving its variegated plumage a soft, even shaggy look that renders the climactic flashes of its massive black talons positively electrifying. The hunt finally comes to a decisive but gore-free culmination with the hawk "grabbing" a squirrel and winging off to the nearby nest. The author closes with two pages of additional facts and leads to further information.An absorbing reminder that we need never look far to see wild, beautiful nature. (Informational picture book. 6-9)

Kirkus Reviews