I AM WE

What’s it like to be a crow?

Many regard corvids as harbingers of doom—a stereotype that belies their rich sense of community. As this fascinating and edifying work notes, crows look out for each other by traveling in groups and are intensely aware of their surroundings; indeed, they have more going on than your average bird. Narrated in the collective first person by a murder of crows (“I am not I at all”), Barnard Booth’s verse flows beautifully, slinking across the page with a determination that mirrors the intentionality of her feathered subjects: “I spill across the sky like ink— / fill the night with jagged cries. / I have one thousand eyes. / I see all. / Know all. / Am all.” Finkeldey’s inky art depicts landscapes both urban and rural, set against backdrops of deep grays, blues, blacks, and orangey pinks, providing close-ups of individual animals, along with breathtaking aerial shots of the crows resting on a sturdy tree. On a particularly inspired and entirely unexpected spread, several crows dissolve into a cape worn by a cackling figure in a pointed hat: “Caw-caaaaw! / We must sound like witches to you.” Both text and art set an intriguingly ominous tone even as the book establishes crows’ commitment to cooperation and communal living; readers will eagerly dive into the generous backmatter.

A moody, poetic study of a brilliant yet oft-misunderstood creature.