EAGLES

The large picture-book format, brief text, and many colorful eagle paintings, which appear in this modestly priced title, will attract young readers, but the text is choppy, imprecise, and dull. For example: “Eagles are big, powerful birds. They soar through the sky with their long wide wings. Eagles are birds of prey—birds who hunt for their food. All birds of prey have curved beaks and sharp claws.” In fact, all birds hunt for their food, unless they are caged birds. And many other kinds of birds have curved beaks and sharp claws. Elsewhere it indicates the Bald Eagle eats fish, and so they do; but they also eat rabbits, geese, snakes, and almost any dead animals they can find. In the section, “Eagles and People,” the author discusses the near decimation of eagles from hunting, poison, and lack of habitat, but does not mention the remarkable comeback of the eagle. Watercolor paintings, while handsome, are often too small or too fuzzy to provide sufficient detail. For example, in eagle-watching, the author indicates a Bald Eagle nest is found high in a tree, but the one pictured is the size of a rice grain. Elsewhere, the author notes the snake eagles have “short toes for gripping their thin prey.” Hard to tell when toes are the size of a pinhead. The author and illustrator briefly introduce a dozen species from around the world, give hints on eagle-watching, and a brief glossary and index. With a dozen fine eagle titles in print, including several at the easy-reading level, like Gail Gibbons’s Soar with the Wind, this is an additional purchase. (Nonfiction. 6-8)