Counting Birds by Heidi EY Stemple illustrated by Clover Robin

I spied this book in the biography collection of a library I visit each week. It is one of the best children's libraries in Australia so I should not have been surprised to find this treasure. Counting Birds was published in 2018 and it celebrates the work of Frank Chapman. 

Publisher blurb: The remarkable true story of the very first Audubon Christmas Bird Count. Everyday kids learn how they can help protect bird species, near and far, with Counting Birds - the real-life story of bird counting and watching. What can you do to help endangered animals and make a positive change in our environment? Get counting! Counting Birds is a beautifully illustrated book that introduces kids to the idea of bird counts and bird watches. Along the way, they will learn about Frank Chapman, who used his bird knowledge and magazine Bird-Lore to found the first annual bird count. Bird counting helps professional researchers collect data, share expertise, and spread valuable information to help all kinds of birds around the world, from condors to hawks to kestrels and more. Counting Birds introduces kids to a whole feathered world that will fascinate and inspire them to get involved in conservation and become citizen scientists.

Here is a set of teaching notes to use with this book designed by the author. Here is an interview with Clover Robin where she shares her illustration process. 

I mentioned Clover Robin a couple of days ago. Take a look at her Instagram pages where you can get an idea of her art style. See inside her board book series - Nature Stories.

Clover Robin is a surface pattern designer and illustrator. She grew up in glorious Devon before training and graduating from Leeds College of Art and Design in 2007, followed by a Masters from Central Saint Martins. She delights in nature and all things botanical, inspired by a childhood of woodland walks and countryside rambles. Clover is currently based in Greenwich, London where all of her artwork is lovingly handcrafted and printed. Kids Best Books

About the author: Heidi Elisabet Yolen Stemple grew up in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and after 18 years of living elsewhere, she has returned. She has also returned to the family business—writing children’s books—after working as a probation/parole officer and a private investigator. Heidi is Jane Yolen’s daughter and sometimes writing partner. They’ve co-authored several books together, including their History Mystery series and Not All Princesses Dress in Pink. They also worked together on the nonfiction middle-grade Bad Girls: Sirens, Jezebels, Murderers, Thieves, and Other Female Villains and their most recent picture book, You Nest Here with Me illustrated by Melissa Sweet.  Heidi 'starred' in her mother's 1988 Caldecott-winning book, Owl Moon.  Murdoch Books

I now need to find these two books which also talk about the work of Audubon and also the annual bird count. You could also look here. 

Finally I just have to share three bird illustrations (not from Counting Birds) by Clover Robin. I have fallen in love with her work: