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Bird novels


knitgrl
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I'm pulling science together for ds9 for next year. We'll be using MP's bird curriculum as a base, and wanted to incorporate birds into a lot subjects for him next year. He's gotten to the point where I feel I can assign books for him to read. He mostly reads graphic novels, but also a lot of non-fiction as well. So far, I have come up with Trumpet of the Swan and Owls in the Family. I've seen some other titles that incorporate birds that seem kind of heavy on character development, but I'm not sure he would be into that. Any other suggestions would be welcome. It's been so long since I've read Hoot, I don't remember if it would be appropriate for a 9yo.

Edited by knitgrl
typo
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There is a crow that is a fairly important character in The Birchbark House by Louis Erdrich. There is another crow in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, but it is not one of the main characters. These are both great novels and probably about the right level.

Edited by Amoret
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My Side of the Mountain (George)
Boy living off the land of the mountain with his peregrine falcon. Frightful's Mountain Is the 2nd sequel (after The Far Side of the Mountain), and follows the peregrine falcon.

The Wheel on the School (DeJong)
School children work to bring back nesting storks to their little Dutch fishing village.

Guardians of Ga'Hoole series (Lasky)
Fantasy. Owls. The Capture is book 1.

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11 minutes ago, ScoutTN said:

Thornton Burgess’ Bird Book for Children is good too. Old CM style book that incorporates nature study into a narrative. 

I have started that once, and was not a big fan. It just didn't click with me. But, I am not ds. He might have an entirely different view of it. I might have him read a few chapters and see what he thinks.

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My boys really enjoyed Swordbird and the other two books in the series. The author, Nancy Yi Fan was 12 when it was published but it was a NYT bestseller. It's really amazing considering her age. I found it a little too similar to other fantasy sagas but my boys really liked it. And it's good for that age, an easy read. It's a fantasy series about two warring tribes of birds (the blue jays and cardinals). 

They also liked The High-Skies Adventures of Blue Jay the Pirate by Scott Nash which is pretty much what you would expect from the title. 

Another very fun book is the United Tweets of America by Hudson Talbott. It's a picture book that features all the state birds competing in a pageant for the best bird. It's very funny. 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
On 5/6/2023 at 4:51 PM, Lori D. said:

Guardians of Ga'Hoole series (Lasky)
Fantasy. Owls. The Capture is book 1.

The only time ds has attempted to read a novel was a Redwall book, but despite trying a number of times, he never got far because it was just too dense. Today was our first day of school, and for a "Welcome Back to School" gift, I gave him The Capture. He is so excited about it and wanted to read more than just the 30min. I had assigned him. I'm so glad there are more in the series. Thanks for the recommendation, Lori!

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  • 3 months later...

It's a good lesson for me, because the Burgess book really did not resonate with me. I just handed it to ds, and asked him to read the first few chapters, and he just took off with it. My goal at the outset of this year was to get him to read something other than graphic novels on a regular basis. His first assigned book was "The Capture" I think, from the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. He loved it. And then somehow, he got into the Hardy boys, and read one a day for awhile, completing the first 22 books in the series. He still of course, reads graphic novels, but he reads a lot of other stuff now as well. With ds, I can already say this homeschool year is a success. And because his younger sister lives a life of FOMO, she has started reading more novels, as well, though not as much as her brother.

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2 hours ago, knitgrl said:

It's a good lesson for me, because the Burgess book really did not resonate with me. I just handed it to ds, and asked him to read the first few chapters, and he just took off with it. My goal at the outset of this year was to get him to read something other than graphic novels on a regular basis. His first assigned book was "The Capture" I think, from the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. He loved it. And then somehow, he got into the Hardy boys, and read one a day for awhile, completing the first 22 books in the series. He still of course, reads graphic novels, but he reads a lot of other stuff now as well. With ds, I can already say this homeschool year is a success. And because his younger sister lives a life of FOMO, she has started reading more novels, as well, though not as much as her brother.

That is awesome! 😄 

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3 hours ago, quietgarden said:

Science Comics has good books on birds and they are graphic novels. I believe they have one on Crows and another called Birds of Prey, I believe?

I saw that our library system has both of those. They look good, and I'm sure will be devoured by both kids.

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