As we have been watching the backyard become more and more green, losing the drab brown of winter, we’ve also noticed all the extra activity - the squirrels, chipmunks, and birds are busy, busy, busy! Just last week, there were more Robins in our yard than we could even count (of course the children banging on the glass, making them fly, added to the difficulty of counting 
).
All those Robins prompted this week’s Storytime Saturday choice: The Best Nest, by Doris L. Mueller. This is another book I received from Sylvan Dell Publishing - anyone who’s willing to send me a free book, I’m more than happy to review it!
The story begins with a single magpie (that’s a bird, which I had forgotten) building a large strong nest, and a comparison is made to other birds that haphazardly lay their eggs anywhere. Of course, those birds have fewer eggs to hatch than the careful and diligent magpie. The other birds get together and decide to have the magpie teach them how to build nests like her.
As the story progresses, some birds take only a bit of the magpie’s wisdom and fly off to build a nest with the limited knowledge they’ve gained - not enough to build a better nest. Despite the magpie’s annoyance, she continues trying to teach the other birds. Although more birds continue leaving before the lesson is finished. Only the oriole stayed to hear all of the lesson, producing the only other bird that has a nest as strong and beautiful as the magpie’s.
This is a great lesson about all the many different ways that birds build their nests. The illustrations by Sherry Neidigh are so beautiful and colorful, and she does a great job of depicting each bird’s coloring, eggs, and nests. What a fun way to learn about this part of nature that many of us never even think about. I mean - when was the last time you thought about how a Robin builds her nest compared to how a Grackle builds hers?
One of the wonderful parts of the Sylvan Dell Publishing books is the activity section at the back of the book. This particular book has a page with “Bird Fun Facts;” another page has “Bird Math” where you try to calculate how many eggs a bird might produce in a year; there is also a two-page spread “Match the Nest Activity,” where you read the description of a nest and match it to the correct bird.
My three oldest children (8, 5, and 3) thorough enjoyed this story, and have been looking for the birds mentioned throughout the book in our backyard. Next thing you know, they’ll be out there trying to catch them and teach them how to build a nest the RIGHT way!
Sylvan Dell Publishing has a vast assortment of educational, fun books just like this one at their website. They also have a plethora of activities you can do online, resources for parents and teachers, free audio books, and even stuffed animals that correspond to some of their books. Click here to check it out!
I’ll be out of pocket the next couple of Saturdays, so I encourage you to check out my Children’s Picture Book Reviews archives to find some great stories to share with your kids. I’d love to hear what some of your favorite stories are, so leave me a comment!
March 31st, 2008 at 12:04 pm
It sounds like a wonderful story.
I’m letting everyone on the Heads Or Tails blogroll know that HoT has a home of its own! You can find it HERE.