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A couple of months ago, I got an email from a marketer asking if I would like a copy of the book whose title is given in this post’s title. I said Sure, but (1) I don’t post much to this blog anymore, and (2) I wouldn’t guarantee to review the book and (2b) even if I did review it, I might not like it!
Well, here I am…I finally read the book, and it’s pretty good. I think it’s intended to be read to a child by his/her parents, or to be read by a child maybe in the 8-11 range. It’s about 100 pages, with a couple of dozen photos and with a fairly large font and double-spaced. 26 chapters in 100 pages…just takes a few minutes to get through each one, for an adult reader.
The book chronicles a season in the life of some osprey parents and their kids. Chapters are “About ospreys”, “Finding a place to call home”, “Finding a mate,” and so on. A sample of the writing: “All Olive could do was watch over the eggs and wait. Her babies had to hatch themselves with no help, and she knew they would come out of their shells when they were ready. It was a warm summer day when the first egg hatched. When the babies hatch, they weigh only two ounces and are one or two inches long. That is about the size of your mom’s thumb. That is very tiny for a bird that will grow so big.”
I don’t have kids and I’m not the intended audience, so it’s a bit hard for me to judge whether this book will interest most children. At least I think it would be good for children who have any interest in ospreys or who get to see them regularly. If you live someplace you can see osprey regularly (or, indeed, any other bird of prey) your kids might really like this. But for what I think of as the average soccer-playing, TV-watching, Wii-playing youngster, I dunno…I don’t think this will necessarily engage their imagination or interest. Still, for that niche market of kids-who-watch-raptors, I think this is a good choice.