THE BIRD ALPHABET BOOK, by Jerry Pallotta and Edgar Stewart

Quick Facts:
- Illustrated by Edgar Stewart
- alphabet picture book
- 32 pages

The Bird Alphabet Book, written by Jerry Pallotta and illustrated by Edgar Stewart, is a beautifully illustrated alphabet book that introduces the reader to twenty-six different species of bird (plus one bonus mammal!) The book does a lovely job of presenting specific information about each of the species that is likely to engage young readers, and which anticipates their questions about each bird.

Consider, for example, the following page for "T":

As an informational book, Pallotta is bound to provide factual information on the birds he chooses to represent each letter. However, it is clear that he put a good deal of thought not only into which birds would be the most visually interesting for young readers, but which ones were likely to inspire childrens' questions. By choosing a toucan to represent the letter "T", Pallotta not only selected a bird that is unique and interesting to the eye, but that looks a little goofy. You can imagine a child giggling and pointing to the long orange beak, asking, "But why the beak so long?"

This is where the collaboration between author and illustrator becomes clear. Rather than explain that the toucan's beak helps it reach food deep inside tree holes, Pallotta allows this information to be shown by Stewart's illustration. This leaves Pallotta free to address the next likely question: but isn't the beak heavy? One of the frustrating aspects of informational books for both parents and children can be when the book doesn't have information to answer the questions children have. Though The Bird Alphabet Book certainly doesn't answer all questions, it does endeavor to anticipate and respond to as many of them as possible.

Perhaps one of the best moments of anticipating the readers' questions occurs at the very beginning of the book, with the letter "B":

The text here reads:

"B is for Bat. Hey, wait a second! Bats are not birds. Bats are mammals Even though they have wings and they can fly, they do not have feathers. Get out of this book, you Bats!

Now that the Bats are gone, let's find a bird whose name begins with the letter B."

-The Bird Alphabet Book, page 2-3

Bats, by virtue of the place they hold in popular culture as a symbol of the night (and also the way their name rhymes with "cat" and "mat" and "sat"!), are some of the first animals with which children often become aware- even if they've never seen one in real life! The bird that Pallotta chooses for "B" is the blue-footed booby. Without the page shown above, it is easy to imagine a child turning to their parent and asking, "But what about bats? Bats start with B. Why no bats?" And quite frankly, most parents would probably have to Wikipedia to determine why a bat would not be included in a bird alphabet book for children (I would have!)

Thus, Pallotta addresses the question head on, using a full, two-page spread to do so. By not placing the bat on a single page next to a bird, Pallotta sets bats apart from the birds he discusses. Each of the birds gets only one page, and so this section about the bat actually interrupts the flow of the book. All of this contributes to the main point Pallotta is making about bats: that they are NOT BIRDS. 

Like Pallotta, Stewart had an obligation to depict each species as accurately as possible, and his gorgeous watercolors are successful in this. However, frequently uses the animals' eyes to show expression and personality that make the illustrations more engaging than they might be otherwise. Look particularly at the eyes of the crocodile below (included on the page for Crocodile Bird):

He looks like he's laughing! Another excellent example is the White-faced Scops Owl page, in which the owls' eyes make them look very stern:

These images remain accurate to the animals' actual appearance, but lend life to the watercolors.

Perhaps my only reservation about this book is that there is very little that is lyrical or funny about the prose (much less both). Which is not to say that all books for children must be written lyrically or be crammed full of laughs! However, I think that an alphabet book is an obvious place to use lyrical language, particularly since children learn their alphabet in the form of a song. In terms of the humor, it is present in a few places (like the "Bat" page) but is not consistent in its usage. This, at times, made the writing feel a bit too dry for me, despite the wonderful job Pallotta did in selecting the information he presented for each species. I think that this, as well as the overall flow of the book, could have been improved had either the language bit more lyrical or the humor more consistently employed.

Overall, this a book best suited for readers 2nd-3rd grade and older. Though younger readers will enjoy having it read too them, some of the species choices (such as "Indigo Bunting", "Blue-footed Booby) and "White-faced Scops Owl") are simply not appropriate linguistic challenges for beginning readers.