hlsblue Book Review: Toddler Bird Books

I love reading and sharing the joy of it with my daughter. I know the best way to promote interest in books is to pick things you're interested in to read about. My little girl loves birds. We recently put a bird feeder outside our bedroom window (we're co-sleepers and we hang out in there a lot) so that she and the cats can have plenty of birds to watch. And, boy, do they watch birds. And the birds come. We'll have ten birds at a time, easily. They usually eat about one feeder full a week right now, and that's another fun activity.

I knew it was time to expound upon her love and teach her a little more, in a basic sort of way. So I went to the trusty old pal Amazon and started browsing. There are a lot of books about birds out there, but I knew we needed simple and colorful. I didn't really expect to find a lot of options, but I did. I didn't want it to be a text book outlining each bird, their habitats, indigenous locations, etc. She's only two and I wanted an introduction to the fact that you can find information about birds in books. It needed to be fun. So here's what I found.

Birds by Kevin Henkes.

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This book is amazing. The illustrations are beautiful. It's simple. It doesn't have a lot of information per se but it is vibrant and perfect for a two year old. There is one page, where it shows a flock of birds in a tree and talks about them flying off all at once. The next illustration shows them flying off and says it looks like the tree says SURPRISE! The little girl loves to have me read it to her, and I could read it over and over again. It makes my heart happy.

The second ( I can never buy just one) is About Birds: A Guide for Children by Cathryn Sill

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This book is a tiny bit more detailed in that it has more facts. Although, don't expect a lot of facts or words. It's still very simple and reads like a story. The thing I like the most about this book is the detailed illustrations and labels of bird names. There is also in index in the back with more facts, still not a lot, but I'm not teaching a 21 year old so the simplicity is nice. No need to overwhelm a two year old and spoil her love with too much information. These images are more natural and organic, but still very pretty and she enjoys looking at them. 

I wish there was more to review, but these books are pretty simple. They are very enjoyable if you have a little bird lover, as I do. Don't expect to learn anything new yourself, from either of them, unless you've just never seen a bird before, ever. But still, both are great for a toddler who is a novice bird watcher.