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books_n_pickles's review
informative
fast-paced
3.0
Less cohesive than the other entries I've read in the series (<i>Cats</i> and <i>Dogs</i>, both by Andy Hirsch), as we don't really have a single narrator carrying us through the story. There's a falconer from a Ren Faire who kind of leads the way, who has as semi-sidekicks a goshawk and a squirrel. Audubon and other bird experts (including the founder of Hawk Mountain, which was fun for me, since my family has been vacationing in that area since I was little!) speak up as well, but as a result there isn't really a single, flowing narrative.
Oh, and don't get too attached to that squirrel--in the last pages, our Ren Faire guy gives him a head start before setting the goshawk after it, and the final page shows the bird closing in, talons extended! And in addition to the ripping of flesh that you'd expect from a book about predators, there's one panel showing the inside of a piece of prey, where a talon punctures the skin while a heart, liver, and set of lungs drawn with eyes cower in fear.
There are also a couple unexplained references, like one to Newton's Third Law when explaining how wind moves over wings. What's Newton's Third Law? What does it mean? The audience might not know that. Heck, I've forgotten which of Newton's laws the third one is. (From Wikipedia: "If two bodies exert forces on each other, these forces have the same magnitude but opposite directions.")
Still, what the book lacks in cohesion it makes up for in cool facts, like:
>> Birds' bones aren't nearly hollow to reduce body weight--they actually have air sacs that help the lungs during flight, which isn't exactly easy. As Flood puts it, "During the strenuous activity of flying, the air sacs act as bellows that continuously bring oxygen into the lungs, cooling the bird's body as well."
>> Once an osprey has caught a fish, they point its head forward to reduce wind drag.
>> Australia's wedge-tailed eagles will work in pairs to hunt kangaroos. Flippin' <i>kangaroos</i>!
>> Extinct species argentavis magnificens had a wingspan of almost 23 fee5!
>> The largest ever eagle by body weight, Haast's eagle, lived in New Zealand but died off with the arrival of the Maori, who hunted its main prey, the huge and flightless moa, to extinction.
There are also some great, funny pictures: pizza rat makes an appearance, and when our narrator and his sidekicks visit the lab, all three of them don protective gear, including full-body suits, booties on paws and talons, and masks.
So: fun, informative, but not quite as coherent as Hirsch's entries.
Oh, and don't get too attached to that squirrel--in the last pages, our Ren Faire guy gives him a head start before setting the goshawk after it, and the final page shows the bird closing in, talons extended! And in addition to the ripping of flesh that you'd expect from a book about predators, there's one panel showing the inside of a piece of prey, where a talon punctures the skin while a heart, liver, and set of lungs drawn with eyes cower in fear.
There are also a couple unexplained references, like one to Newton's Third Law when explaining how wind moves over wings. What's Newton's Third Law? What does it mean? The audience might not know that. Heck, I've forgotten which of Newton's laws the third one is. (From Wikipedia: "If two bodies exert forces on each other, these forces have the same magnitude but opposite directions.")
Still, what the book lacks in cohesion it makes up for in cool facts, like:
>> Birds' bones aren't nearly hollow to reduce body weight--they actually have air sacs that help the lungs during flight, which isn't exactly easy. As Flood puts it, "During the strenuous activity of flying, the air sacs act as bellows that continuously bring oxygen into the lungs, cooling the bird's body as well."
>> Once an osprey has caught a fish, they point its head forward to reduce wind drag.
>> Australia's wedge-tailed eagles will work in pairs to hunt kangaroos. Flippin' <i>kangaroos</i>!
>> Extinct species argentavis magnificens had a wingspan of almost 23 fee5!
>> The largest ever eagle by body weight, Haast's eagle, lived in New Zealand but died off with the arrival of the Maori, who hunted its main prey, the huge and flightless moa, to extinction.
There are also some great, funny pictures: pizza rat makes an appearance, and when our narrator and his sidekicks visit the lab, all three of them don protective gear, including full-body suits, booties on paws and talons, and masks.
So: fun, informative, but not quite as coherent as Hirsch's entries.
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