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:

Puffin by Martin Jenkins illustrated by Jenni Desmond

Publisher blurb: Everyone recognises the puffin, with its black and white feathers and brightly colored bill. But how does the puffin live? What happens down in its burrow? And how do the male and female share the task of feeding and caring for their young? Discover the intriguing world of this charming bird in a collaboration that pairs Martin Jenkins’s engaging, informative text with the warm energy of Jenni Desmond’s illustrations. Filled with interesting facts, this delightful introduction to the puffin offers young ornithologists more details in the back matter.

This book is from the Nature Storybook series (previously called Read and Wonder) from Walker Books. Some are produced here in Australia, while others, like this one from the UK. This book was a gift for my birthday last week - an utterly perfect present for a huge puffin fan like me!

My journey into the world of puffins began with Puffling. I actually thought puffins were 'made-up'. Of course I knew the famous book company Puffin Books (part of Penguin). Once I discovered puffins were real I set about investigating a way to see them. In 2015 I travelled to Orkney, Shetland and Fair Isle and YES because I went at the right time of year (May) I saw so many puffins and I was able to take hundreds of photos too.

Here are a few puffin facts:

• There are three kinds of puffins - Crested Puffin; Horned Puffin and Atlantic Puffin
• You can find puffins in the northern hemisphere - Greenland; Newfoundland; the northern coasts of Europe and even as far south as Maine in the US.
• Puffins show affection by rubbing their beaks together - this is called beaking
• Their favourite food is sand eels
• A baby puffin is called a puffling
• Puffins spend most of their lives out at sea 
• Their beak changes from grey to bright orange in Spring
• If you feel like a laugh listen to some puffins (this used to make my students roar with laughter)

About the author: Martin Jenkins was born in Surrey in 1959 but grew up in Spain, Ireland and Kent. Martin became involved with children’s books when he was asked to advise on Walker Books’ Animals at Risk series. Since then he has written several titles, including Emperor's Egg, winner of the Times Junior Information Book of the Year Award and Fly Traps! Plants that Bite Back, which was shortlisted for the same award. He has also retold Gulliver's Travels, winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal and Don Quixote.

About the illustrator: Jenni Desmond is a picture book maker based in Hackney, London UK.  In 2016 she was made a Maurice Sendak Fellow and her book The Polar Bear won a prestigious New York Times Best Illustrated Children's Books award. Her books have been translated into over 20 languages. She has a passion for books and believes that picture books are essential for nurturing young imaginations.  Jenni does not think picture books should be limited to children, and hopes her own books will also appeal to older people with youthful minds. Jenni works by hand using mixed media and finishes her artwork digitally.  

The Zebra who ran too Fast

On the Night of the Shooting Star

Wombat by Christopher Cheng illustrated by Liz Duthie

This volume offers a solid combination of story and information. Wombats’ deployment of their 

“bony bottoms” to fend off their few predators 

and their secret pouches for their young will tickle and warm anyone to the wombat’s ways.

Deceptively sharp, like a wombat’s bottom. Kirkus

Yesterday I talked about wombats in picture books. Today I will look a little more closely at a fairly new non fiction book about wombats. This book is from the splendid series by Walker Books called Nature Storybooks. Yes they are stories or narratives as the series name implies, but each also contains a wealth of facts about each animal. These books are so well researched and designed, yet, at no time do these books overload the reader with facts.  Each page follows a format of a large illustration, lines of the narrative (in one font) and facts (in a different font) usually below the main narrative. At the back of each book there is an index and a page of further information. On the Walker Books site you can access teachers notes for each Australian title. 

These books (the full set) should be added to every Primary school library and public library too. They are perfect for class use and for sharing with children aged 4-8. 

Wombat begins with the lines:

"Far underground, where dirt and tree roots mesh, tunnels lead to a burrow, and Wombat's day begins. She ventures outside, alert and hungry as a fading sun farewells the day."

Now read the non fiction text which perfectly describes the cover image:

"Wombats have poor eyesight. Their ears are short, slightly rounded and small. Their button-like noses with nostrils at the tip are hairless and covered in grainy skin. They have course, thick fur, a bit like a doormat."

I also need to comment on the rich vocabulary Christopher Cheng uses in his book - mesh, ventures, ambles, determined, excavating, intense, raucous, antics, intruder, sanctuary, flinch, chamber, and wary.

This is the second Nature Storybook by Christopher Cheng - his previous title was Python illustrated by Mark Jackson. 

Publisher blurb for Wombat: Learn all about the Australian “bulldozer of the bush” in a fascinating introduction to the wombat. Wombats may look soft and cuddly, but they are determined and tough, with sharp teeth that never stop growing, limbs that they use to shovel dirt like bulldozers, and bony bottoms they use to defend their burrows. They can live for years without drinking water, getting all of their moisture from the plants they eat—and they deposit their cube-shaped poop on rocks or stumps as a warning to other wombats. Follow one of these powerful marsupials through a suspenseful day in Christopher Cheng’s engaging narration, paired with endearing illustrations by Liz Duthie and interspersed with intriguing facts. An endnote provides additional information about wombats for readers curious to learn more.

I was so pleased to see Wombat listed as a 2022 Eve Pownall Notable book for 2022. 

Read more about illustrator Liz Duthie here

Here are the teachers notes. You could compare Wombat (Christopher Cheng and Liz Duthie) with other wombat non fiction titles - there are sure to be a few in your library at [599.24]. 

Here are more of the Nature Storybooks which are also called Read and Wonder. I love the way many of these feature work by the best illustrators such as Satoshi Kitamura; Liz Anelli; Tannya Harricks; Anita Jeram; Charlotte Voake; Julie Vivas; Salvatore Rubbino; Michael Foreman; Catherine Rayner; and Tim Hopgood. They also showcase some fabulous authors too. In the US they are published by Candlewick. 

I have added these three to my own (very long) to read list:

Just Ducks by Nicola Davies illustrated by Salvatore Rubbino

Rubbino’s mixed-media illustrations, done in a subdued palette of watery greens, grays and browns, truly impress. Kirkus Star review

The first thing a little girl hears each morning is the quack quack quack of the ducks. She sees them on the river bank as she crosses the bridge to school and in the afternoons she and her mother feed the ducks. Around my lake there are signs asking people not to feed bread to the ducks but instead to purchase (cheap) duck food from a local cafe. 

In simple language perfect for younger readers, Nicola Davies explains the feather colours and habits of mallard ducks. "They both have a secret patch of blue on each wing, that I see when they stretch or fly."

I have two reasons for selecting this book from my friend's fabulous library.  First of all I just love illustrations by Salvatore Rubbino which I first saw in the book Ride the Wind. Secondly, I live beside a lake and right now little sets of baby ducks can be seen dutifully following mother ducks along the shore. Everyone, old and young, stop watch because they are so cute!  I have also talked about the splendid work and varied work of Nicola Davies here on this blog especially after she was a featured speaker at the USBBY Conference I attended. 

Just Ducks has an index, a page with extra information about ducks and scattered throughout the text, little facts are shared in a different font expanding on the narrative of that page.  Here are a few of the splendid titles from the Read and Wonder series (Candlewick ) or as Walker Books calls them Nature Storybooks. Read more here from my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything. You can see a Pinterest collection of them here.  These are an essential addition which should be added to every Primary school library.