As Brave as You by Jason Reynolds

(nearly five stars)

“Yeah, but you never, like, I’on’t know, just walk around your yard? Not all the way to the edge, but just a little bit? ’Cause if I had a big yard like this back home, I would be in it all the time. Even if I was blind,” Genie said. Grandpop cocked his head. “Is that so?” 

Genie wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Yep.” 

“Well, I guess I gotta figure out how to get as brave as you, Little Wood.”

The opening lines of As Brave as You might make you think this will 'just' be a funny book (perhaps filled with toilet humour) but if you think that you will discover you are so 'wrong'.

#460: Poop. Poop is stupid. Stupid poop. Stupid. Poopid. Poopidity. Is poopidity a word?

The boys are cleaning up dog poo. #460 is a way that Genie keeps track of his questions - especially here living with his grandparents who have no internet and so he has no way to use his friend 'Google'. The boys have come from Brooklyn to North Hill, Virginia. Their parents are supposed to be on a holiday. They are supposed to be 'working things out' and hopefully finding a way to stay together so meanwhile Genie and Ernie are trying to adjust to living in a totally new place with new rules. 

Back to Genie's questions. He writes them in a special book:

Genie flipped through pages of his notebook—where he kept his best questions. Some had already been answered, and some were still mysteries. He landed on one that he had totally forgotten about—#389: Do honey badgers eat honey?

Genie was the kind of kid who kept a small jacked-up notebook and pen in his pocket just so that he could jot down interesting things whenever they came. The point was to keep a list—a numbered list—of all the things he needed to Google, because to Genie, the more questions you had, the more answers you could find. And the more answers you found, the more you knew. And the more you knew, the less you made mistakes. Genie wasn’t about mistakes.

Genie is wise beyond his years, and he has a wonderful level of emotional intelligence.  After their long car trip to the country this is what he says about his mum:

The skin on her face looked heavy, and Genie wondered if she had slept at all during the ride. Actually, the skin on her face had been looking heavy for a few months.

There is another layer to this visit - Genie's father and his grandfather have not spoken to each other for years - so something bad must have happened in the past. AND also, Grandpop is totally blind and yet he manages to navigate inside the house. Inside yes, but he needs Genie to help him learn how to walk outside. 

Genie and Grandpop bond over Grandpop's secret inside greenhouse garden and over names - Genie is a girl's name given to a boy and Grandpop's name is Brooke. Ernie and Genie learn about selling peas at the market. It should be an uneventful Summer but of course it is not especially after the boys meet Tess who lives on the next farm. And good news Tess has Wi-Fi so Genie can get onto his backlog of questions. 

Oh and my heart broke when Genie accidentally broke the little red toy truck that had belonged to his Uncle Wood (spoiler alert - his uncle was a soldier who died in action twenty years ago in operation Desert Storm).

#442: Why am I so stupid? Why did he have to leave the truck on the floor? Why? His first day at Grandma and Grandpop’s house, and he had already messed up. The first day. He just couldn’t believe it. He hated making mistakes. All he could think about was how he had to make it right. He had to fix it. But… how?

I do have to give a content warning - this book contains guns, and a shooting.

He turned to open the refrigerator door, and that’s when Genie noticed something was sticking up from the back of his pants like a short tail. Oh… my… G—it was a pistol—the handle of a pistol! Genie had never actually seen a gun in real life, just on the cop shows Ma was always watching, or in movies—action flicks, sci-fi flicks, and even the scary flicks Genie and Ernie weren’t supposed to be watching. ... Questions to remember: What’s a blind man doing with a gun?  Why would Grandpop have a gun, period?

Readers aged 11+ with reading stamina will enjoy this book and the story twists and turns will keep them turning the pages desperate to see if young Genie can atone for his mistakes - breaking that precious truck and accidentally killing one of Grandpop's special birds not to mention the messy issue of Ernie's tooth, the gun shot and his worry about his mum and dad. 

Publisher blurb: Genie’s summer is full of surprises. The first is that he and his big brother, Ernie, are leaving Brooklyn for the very first time to spend the summer with their grandparents all the way in Virginia—in the COUNTRY! The second surprise comes when Genie figures out that their grandfather is blind. Thunderstruck, Genie peppers Grandpop with questions about how he hides it so well (besides wearing way cool Ray-Bans). How does he match his clothes? Know where to walk? Cook with a gas stove? Pour a glass of sweet tea without spilling it? Genie thinks Grandpop must be the bravest guy he’s ever known, but he starts to notice that his grandfather never leaves the house—as in NEVER. And when he finds the secret room that Grandpop is always disappearing into—a room so full of songbirds and plants that it’s almost as if it’s been pulled inside-out—he begins to wonder if his grandfather is really so brave after all. Then Ernie lets him down in the bravery department. It’s his fourteenth birthday, and, Grandpop says to become a man, you have to learn how to shoot a gun. Genie thinks that is AWESOME until he realizes Ernie has no interest in learning how to shoot. None. Nada. Dumbfounded by Ernie’s reluctance, Genie is left to wonder—is bravery and becoming a man only about proving something, or is it just as important to own up to what you won’t do?

This is one of those books where you feel as though you are sitting right beside the family. I especially loved Grandma's cooking and her no-nonsense approach to the boys. 

Reynolds gives his readers uncommonly well-developed, complex characters, especially the completely believable Genie and Grandpop, whose stubborn self-sufficiency belies his vulnerability and whose flawed love both Genie and readers will cherish. This pitch-perfect contemporary novel gently explores the past’s repercussions on the present. Kirkus Star review

Reynolds captures the bond that Grandpop and Genie form in a tender, believable, and entertaining way, delivered through smart and funny prose and sparkling dialogue. School Library Journal

Awards:

• ALA Notable Children's Books
• Bank Street Best Books of the Year
• William Allen White Children's Book Award Reading List (KS)
• ALA Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book
• Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best
• Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award (IL)
• ALA Schneider Family Book Award
• ALA Notable Children's Recording
• Wisconsin State Reading Association's Reading List
• Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature Best Multicultural Books List
• New York Public Library Best Books for Kids
• Kirkus Prize Winner
• USBBY Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities Award List

Genie's questions sometimes act as a light relief from some of the heavy themes in this book - here are a few that gave me a smile:

#458: Grits? What exactly are they? And I get that they’re called grits because they’re gritty, but who thought that name was a good idea? That’s like naming peas green slime balls.

#456: How come glaucoma isn’t called eyecoma? Technically, Grandpop’s eyes are ’sleep, right? Eye… coma. Makes more sense.

#447: What does it mean to shoot the breeze? I know one thing, ain’t no breeze nowhere around here for Grandpop to shoot. 

#448: What does a month of Sundays mean? Has there ever actually been a month of Sundays? Maybe the first month of Sundays was the January after Jesus was born. 

#449: Is the sun hotter in the south? If so, then a month of sundaes makes more sense.

#486: How come teeth ain’t called mouthnails? Or maybe fingernails should be called fingerteeth. 

#487: Do old birds ever lose their beaks? Do they ever crack them pecking hard things? If they do, does that change the way they sing? 

#488: Why do they sing anyway? And is the song of a bird different if the bird is in a tree, in the sky, or in a cage?

What the Macaw Saw by Charlotte Guillain illustrated by Sam Usher

Bookseller blurb: Told in gentle rhyming verse, this beautiful non-fiction picture book follows the story of a flock of colourful macaws as they live their lives in the Amazon rainforest. Through the voice of one of the macaws, we hear about the bounty of the rainforest, as well as the challenges they have faced – threatened by the destruction of their home through machinery and forest fires to make room for vast plantations. Still, there are some areas where the land is protected and they can live a life of freedom among the trees… perhaps in the future, humans will learn the true value of the forest once again Accompanying non-fiction pages at the end of the book include information on endangered macaws, the importance of the rainforest, and the causes of deforestation, as well as what we can do to help.

This book is a perfect example of a well-designed nonfiction book. Younger children will enjoy the first person narrative told in rhyme and then curious older readers can discover more from the four fact pages. 

In the wild Scarlet Macaws live from the south of Mexico, through central American countries such as Costa Rica, Guatemala and Honduras, to as far south as northeast Argentina in South America. Macaws are quite common in the Amazon rainforest but further north the bird is more endangered. 

A picture book that will link to classroom themes on protecting the environment, encouraging young children’s research skills to find out about endangered species, rainforests, birds around the world and to stimulate writing and discussions to persuade and inform on these topics. Just Imagine

What the Macaw Saw was published in 2022, and so I pleased to see it is still available for a really good price in 2026. This book could be a good addition to your library.

There are two other books in this series:

The name of the illustrator - Sam Usher caught my eye. I am a fan of his picture books:

Image source: Sam Usher

Publisher bio: Sam Usher studied illustration at the University of West England. His debut picture book Can You See Sassoon? was shortlisted for the Waterstones Prize and the Red House Children's Book Award. He lives in London with an ancient housemate, and when he's not holding a pen and wobbling at paper, you'll find him playing the piano, eating chocolate and trespassing.

Charlotte Guillain is the author of over 100 books. I need to say I had not heard of her - but now I will hunt out more of her books. She creates books with her husband Adam. 

Hattie Peck by Emma Levey

"Hattie Peck had only ever laid one egg, and it had never hatched. Poor Hattie, she simply loved eggs. They were all she thought about, and all she dreamed about. Eggs, eggs, eggs."

So off she went around the world collecting eggs - hundreds of eggs.

Little Hattie Peck loved eggs! Big ones, small ones, speckled ones. All she wanted was an egg of her own. One day, Hattie left her cosy coop on an adventure to find all the abandoned eggs of the world. And find them she did! But what will happen when they hatch?

Next term some classes at the school where I volunteer each week will explore the topic of eggs! This simple looking picture book would make a terrific starting point after you and your class perhaps brainstorm all the animals that lay eggs.

List of some animals that lay eggs: ants, bedbugs, bees, butterflies, birds, chickens, cockroaches, chameleon lizards, crocodiles, ducks, mosquitoes, emu, ostrich, owl, peacock, penguin, platypus, shark, seahorses, snails, snakes, echidna, and turtle. 

You will find lots of these on the final spread of Hattie Peck. 

Hattie Peck contains delicious words: plucked; embark; venture; battled; vast; deepest depths; clambered; trekked; precious; soared; hauled; trudged; blustery; and colossal. 

I can see this book being used for Reader's Theatre. Emma Levey has some colouring pages on her website. You will need to look in a library to find the books about Hattie because they were published in 2016 and so sadly are no longer in print. 

You can see more books by Emma Levey here. She lives in Wales. I also found a second book about Hattie:

Here are some other books that explore eggs (there are lots more - just ask your Teacher-Librarian):

The Great Shark egg case Hunt

Meet Sylvia Long

This is not an egg

First the egg

Hatch

The Emperor's Egg

Is it Asleep? Olivier Tallec

Squirrel and his friend Pock (a mushroom) set out on a walk through the forest to the meadow. They love listening to the birds, especially the song of the blackbird but there is no song. Then they see the blackbird:

"It's lying there completely still. We've never seen a bird so close-up. It must definitely be asleep. So we keep very quiet and wait for it to wake."

The bird does not wake up even after they move in for a close look at the beautiful feathers, even after they whisper to the bird 'Are you asleep?', and then they clap their hands but nothing happens. Three heads are better than two so they fetch their friend Gunther. Guther says they should lift the bird to help it fly but they discover blackbird is too heavy and that's when we read something you and your young reading companion probably suspected:

"That's when Pock says maybe the blackbird is dead."

Here is an interview with Olivier Tallec and Gecko Press.

I seem to be sharing a few books lately about deep sadness, grief and death. Take a look at this video where the presenter talks about when and why to share picture books about these topics. Yes, It is Asleep? is desperately sad but it is also a gentle story about friendship and caring and memories. There is so little text in this book - it demands to be read very quietly and slowly. You should add this book to your library and don't be afraid to pop it on your regular picture book shelves - no need to hide it away in a parent or teacher reference collection. It is also a NSW Premier's Reading Challenge title (K-2). [1367138]

Children read a book about death like they read a story on a completely different subject. They don’t identify with it in the same way as adults. Children are not apprehensive about entering this story. And I believe we shouldn’t be afraid to read them these books. Death is part of life. Olivier Tallec

A laudably candid yet child-friendly examination of life and death. Kirkus

With moving reflection, and a tribute to life lived and lost, death is gently portrayed in a pure, uncomplicated way that children can comprehend.  Kids' Book Review

Olivier Tallec’s work has been called “sensitive”, “stunning”, “breathtaking”, and “beautiful.” Tallec was born in Brittany, France, in 1970. After graduating from the École Supérieure D’arts Graphiques in Paris, he worked in advertising as a graphic designer, after which he devoted himself to illustration. Since then he has illustrated more than sixty books.

We have already met Pock and Squirrel and Gunther the mouse in this previous book:

A Better Best Friend

Here are a few other books to explore on the topics of grief, loss and death:

The Memory Tree

The Bear and the Wildcat

The Hare-shaped Hole

Bea, Bart and the Birds by Katrina Nannestad illustrated by Cheryl Orsini

Alliterative siblings Bea and Bart have a knack for attracting lost birds. Fortunately, they live in a mansion and so there is plenty of room for all these different creatures - Boo the owl; Polly the rhyming parrot; Doornail the peacock; Crumbs the sparrow; Squish the fairy wren; and Rosy the crow. Unfortunately having these creatures inside the house does lead to daily chaos. Mum keeps fainting; the butler keeps dropping plates of food and Nanny cannot get any sleep with the noisy parrot in the house. Oh, and I need to talk about Doornail. Doornail is a peacock and when the children find him, they think he is dead - dead as a doornail. In fact pretending to be dead is a clever defense mechanism for peacocks and the children soon discover this bird is actually alive. I have some country friends who have a peacock in their large back garden. He moved in about a year ago. I think they would like him to move on and no one really knows where he came from. The fun thing about having him living there is his almost daily feather show which delights the small children (and adults) who visit this house. 

Living in mansion might mean these children's parents are rich. They do have a nanny and a butler! A lady sees the kids with all their bird friends in the park, and she hatches a plan to kidnap the children and ask for a ransom. More chaos ensues and the children are rescued. 

This is a sweet story with an old-fashioned feel (think about having a butler and a nanny). It is easy to read with a good print size and plenty of illustrations along with short chapters. Bee, Bart and the Birds will also work as a family (very short) read aloud. The font changes will help readers identify words to emphasise such as in this sentence: "The birds bobbed and chirped. They loved walkies in the park."

This book, Bea, Bart and the Birds, comes from a new series from Affirm Press (Simon and Schuster). The three authors/commentators behind the Facebook and Podcast group "Your Kids Next Read" were asked, I think, or perhaps it was their idea, to develop some simple and hopefully appealing junior chapter books. The series name is taken from their group name. 

Katrina Nannestad talks about her book here.

Here are the blurbs of the first four titles which were released this week: 

The Lonely Lunch Club (Friends, School and Funny Stories) One lunchtime, Benji goes to the worst bench in the whole school instead of playing footy. There he meets a girl named Alice and a spider named Mabel. And Mabel needs their help! But can Benji and Alice do it alone? 

The Missing Pencil Case (Mystery, Family and Funny Stories) Lea has lost her pencil case. It's full of money she has collected for charity! Lea must search all over her apartment block for the missing pencil case. Where could it be?

Will Finn Win? (Animals, Sport and Friends) Fin never wins anything. On school sports day, a naughty puppy stops Fin from coming first in his race. Will Fin ever win? Or will he learn that there are more important things than medals? 

Bea, Bart and the Birds (Animals, Family and Surprising Stories) It all starts with Boo, the owl. Bea and Bart take her home and love her. Soon, they have a feathered family! But Bea and Bart are not the only ones interested in these unusual birds … 

In July last year Joy Lawn (Paperbark Words) interviewed the YKNR team about their book series plans. Allison Tait, Megan Daley and Allison Rushby have quite lofty goals for their series. I have only read one title so far so I will reserve my judgment as to whether their goals have been met: 

• ‘We are thrilled to be part of the development of this incredible series, which offers a wide reading experience for young readers from creators whose work we love and admire. Your Next Read will provide adults with a one-stop shop for quality books for junior readers, while offering young readers books that are fun, exciting and aimed at building a love of literature.’
• Alongside a phonics-based approach to learning the skills of reading comes the most critical part of a child’s reading journey: the desire to keep reading. That’s where Your Next Read comes in – a bold new series designed to ensure every child learns to love reading.

Reading these two statements I find I am very confused - why did the series creators feel the need to produce very detailed 'Teacher's Notes'? This makes me think these books are also intended to be class readers and not literature? I was also distressed to see the team behind the Your Next Read series promoting the sales of their books through BigW which is a department-style chain store here in Australia. Authors and illustrators receive very little payment for their books, and we desperately also need to support our independent book sellers. BigW are selling these books for AUS$8 which is way below the retail price of AUS$13. It seems sad and wrong to me that purchasing these books from a discount department store is being promoted. And there will be a lot of promotion over the coming years since there is a plan for 36 titles in total. If I am right the author and illustrator of these books share $2.50 of the full retail price or 10% and only 5% for the discounted copy. 

If you are looking for junior series that most certainly could 'build a love of literature' see if your library has Aussie Nibbles and the Solo series which are perfect for younger readers and most certainly do contain 'fun' and very satisfying stories. 

Quirky things to notice about the Your Next Read books:

The shape - with rounded corners - this harks back to the wonderful series I just mentioned that we had here in Australia in the past called Aussie Nibbles, Aussie Bites and Aussie Chomps. The rounded corners are possibly intended to make the books stand out as different and I did read they are meant to look like collectors cards. There is spot varnish on the cover - silver for the first titles in the series.

Each book has a set of 'genre' labels on the cover - my book is listed as animals, family and surprising stories. I am not a fan of generifying school library collections but these little labels might help a young reader anticipate the plot of their book. 

I saw this promotional bookmark as part of the book display for this series

At the back of the book readers are invited to take a survey and this then tells them which book could be Your Next Read. 

There is a plan, as I said, to have 36 titles for this series and they are coded silver and gold. These colours link with suggested ages Silver=ages 5-8 Gold=ages 7-9.

Of the four titles from this first batch it seems the creators have somewhat deliberately tried to have 2 "girl" title and two "boy" titles. 

You might recognise some of the author and illustrator names. I purchased Bea, Bart and the Birds (it's a fun alliterative title as I already noted) because I have read nearly every book (for older readers) by Katrina Nannestad and I do love art by Cheryl Orsini. I am so glad that each book will have a different authors and illustrators. Your young readers might then go on to explore other titles by these creators. 

I was pleased to see Affirm Press have kept the price at a lower level for the series at AUS$13 each.  I did spy them for just AUS$10 each in a chain store today and online from the YKNR team for even less at AUS$8. I do wish the paper was slightly higher quality but I guess you need to balance this against a lower price and also consider the intended audience is home ownership not library collections perhaps.

Here are some of the authors and illustrators who will contribute to this series: Peter Cheong, Jane Godwin, Jade Goodwin, Anita Heiss, Kylie Howarth, Tom Jellett, Maddy Mara, Jasmin McGaughey, Katrina Nannestad, Cheryl Orsini, A. L. Tait, Kate & Jol Temple, Amelia Mellor, Jess Racklyeft and Briony Stewart. In one bookshop today the four titles from 'Your Next Read' were all placed together and in a different shop they were scattered among the junior chapter titles in alphabetical order. If you do add these to your school library I would pop them all together in a series box or on a series display spinner. 

Jane Godwin was previously the author of several titles from the Aussie Nibbles and Aussie Bites series including one of my huge favourites Poor Fish. Here's a list of all her books. 

Here are the next two titles due out in June:

The Last Egg by Sofie Laguna illustrated by Jess Racklyeft

A mother bird is sitting on her nest. She has three eggs. The father bird is very attentive bringing her fresh worms to eat but then one morning; after hearing distant screeching in the night; the parents wake up to find a fourth egg in their next. The mother bird insists it's okay and that they have a responsibility to hatch this egg too. The problem is the first three eggs hatch on time, the baby chicks are just like the parents, and over time these three grow up and fly away. Meanwhile the fourth egg has not hatched. Should the birds abandon this egg? It is most certainly time they flew away to a warmer climate. In fact the snow is now falling and both are desperately cold.

The plot here will feel familiar, you might think of The Ugly Duckling with a twist - a dragon! The art in this new picture book is very appealing. And when you reach the end of the story, your young reading companion is sure to want to go back to the beginning to find that all important story hint (foreshadowing). 

You can find some teachers notes on the publisher page. 

Jess Racklyeft’s imaginative, evocative, playful illustrations with touches of whimsy, capture the different seasons and passing of time with varied colour palettes to reflect spring, winter and summer. She superbly brings to life the bonds between the characters and the emotions they feel. Jess imaginatively uses colour to create suspense, drama and intrigue.  This is a book for all library collections which offers endless opportunities for discussions about family, acceptance, compassions, the spirt of community and strength in diversity. Reading Opens Doors

The Last Egg is a beautiful story about family and caring, and the sacrifices we make to look after people who don’t look like us, but are still family in many other ways. It is also about community, and coming together to create a loving environment for children, helping people when they need it, and coming together when things get dire to ensure the vulnerable are not left behind. The Book Muse

Companion texts:

This one is very old - I hope you can find it - Fey Mouse by Hazel Edwards

Dragon love penguin

Just plain fancy

And for an art comparison try to find this one:

I talked about the illustrator Jess Racklyeft recently. She has donated this original bird illustration for our IBBY Australia Mini Masterpiece art auction (14th - 28th November 2025).

Jess Racklyeft creates a variety of illustrated things - picture books, paintings, prints, pins and cards - mainly in watercolours. She works from her studio at the beautiful Abbotsford Convent and regularly has picnic lunches watching the neighbouring sheep and horses! Her art often combines collage - either on paper or digitally assembled - experimentation and lots of watercolour. Sometimes she writes the books as well. Jess worked in publishing sales for almost a decade before making the leap to full-time illustration and writing, and since then has won several illustration accolades including CBCA Picture Book of the Year for Iceberg (written by Claire Saxby).

Sofie Laguna is the author of many books including Too Loud Lilly; When You're Older; Our Australian Girl: The Grace stories; The Song of Lewis Carmichael; Stephen's Music; Bird and Sugar Boy; and an Aussie Bite title - The forever house. 

Super Swifts by Justin Anderson illustrated by Clover Robin

Subtitle: The small bird with amazing powers

Super Swifts is set in Africa, Europe and the UK BUT we do have swifts here in Australia - ork-tailed Swift (Apus pacificus); House Swift (Apus affinis); White-throated Needletail (Hirundapus caudacutus) and the Uniform Swiftlet (Aerodramus vanikorensis). One of our Australian netball teams is named The Swifts!

I find the topic of bird migration endlessly fascinating. Click the label on this post to find more books on this topic - try to find Circle by Australian illustrator Jeannie Baker. 

Swifts are a family of highly aerial birds known as Apodidae, which reside within the Apodiformes order alongside hummingbirds. ... Swifts have small, weak legs, which led to them sometimes being depicted without feet historically. ...  There are about 100 species of swifts, which are known for their high speeds, with the white-throated needletail reaching up to 169 km/h. They have elongated wingtip bones and the ability to rotate their wings from the base, which aids in their maneuverability and efficiency in flight. Swiftlets have evolved a form of echolocation to navigate dark caves. These birds are found worldwide except in the extremes of the polar, desert, and some oceanic islands, and migratory swifts travel from temperate regions to the tropics in winter. Their nests, often attached to vertical surfaces with saliva or located in wall cavities, are unique—some are used in the traditional bird's nest soup. Swifts are insectivores, hunting mid-flight, and their breeding and development patterns are more similar to seabirds than passerines. While no swift species has been recorded as extinct since 1600, some are considered endangered or vulnerable ... (Source)

All about swifts:

• Coloured dark, sooty brown but can look black against the sky 
• Pale patch on the throat, but this is often difficult to see in flight 
• Long, pointed wings held in a ‘boomerang’ shape 
• Wings are narrower than those of a Swallow or martin 
• Short, forked tail which can be folded to a point 
• Bullet-shaped head 
• You’ll often hear them before you see them – they make an unmistakable, high-pitched ‘scream’ 
• Swifts can travel up to 500 miles in one day
• They 'sleep' while flying - this is called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, where one half of their brain remains alert while the other half enters a sleep state.
• Swift fly slowly through rain as a way to keep clean
• Swift mate for life
• They can catch as many as 50,000 insects in a day
• They can live up to 21 years

Here is a map showing the journey of one swift in 2010 and you could show this video to your students:

Image source: Turning the Stones

The first thing I noticed in the two books I read today about swifts (see below for the second title) is their large eyes. So, I went hunting for a photo of a swift.

Images source: Audubon Society

I also thought about collective nouns which is a topic I find quite fascinating. What do you call a group of swifts? I found four possibilities Flight, Scream, Flock or Kettle!

Then I found this one - a sweep of swifts:

Swifts are highly agile and acrobatic birds known for their remarkable speed and graceful movements in the sky. When witnessed together, their collective presence forms a breathtaking spectacle as they swoop, loop, and glide through the air, displaying remarkable synchronization and coordination. The term sweep embodies the seamless and synchronized movements performed by these swifts, as if they are brushing through the atmosphere with remarkable elegance. The sight of a Sweep of Swifts evokes a sense of awe and wonder, as these social birds create a hypnotizing performance while efficiently navigating their surroundings.

Publisher blurb: A swift may not look like anything special—it’s just a plain brown bird, small enough to nestle in the palm of your hand—but these superheroes of the avian world can fly incredible distances amazingly quickly, reaching speeds of up to seventy miles per hour and spending ten months of every year in the air. Follow one female swift from the steamy forests of tropical central Africa to northern Europe as she navigates arid desert and restless ocean, dodging predators along the way. Eating, drinking, and sleeping on the wind, she won’t rest until she’s reached her nesting site. Woven through with fascinating facts amplified in an author’s note and index, Super Swifts fuses gorgeous collage illustrations and a lilting text to evoke the grandeur of a voyage like no other—and introduce a singular bird with amazing powers.

Text in a larger font provides a smooth narrative, ideal for a read-aloud, while text in a smaller font offers intriguing facts. A series of text boxes describe the swifts’ symbiotic relationship with the louse flies that ride north in their feathers, lay eggs in swift nests, and send a new generation of swift lice south in the fall. Robin’s mixed-media illustrations show the changing scenery in double-page spreads; smaller vignettes depict nesting details and a thrilling scene in which our protagonist must evade an attacking falcon. Kirkus

Super Swifts is published by Walker Books. I need to explain this series (and my confusion). When Walker Books started this series, where a narrative is paired with facts presented on the same page in a smaller font,  they were called Read and Wonder. To me this was the perfect series name. Then many years later the name changed to Nature Storybooks. Same format, same fabulous topics and most importantly same highly skilled illustrators. Fast forward to today - Walker Books are still producing these wonderful books which need to be added to EVERY school and public library BUT now there is no series name.  I can only ask why?

Companion book (you need this one in your library too):

See inside this book here

I am a huge fan of collage art by Clover Robin - here is her instagram page. Here are some two books I have talked about here she has illustrated:

Counting Birds

Together

Other Read and Wonder or Nature Storybook titles: