We Are Starlings
Inside the Mesmerizing Magic of a Murmuration
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- S/ 34.90
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- S/ 34.90
Descripción editorial
A NEW YORK TIMES/NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST ILLUSTRATED CHILDREN'S BOOK • A stunning picture book for young nature lovers about starlings and the fascinating phenomenon of murmurations. Illustrated by the award-winning artist Marc Martin, this book about the natural world vividly explores how such an enigma is even possible.
Sweeping, diving, twisting, turning. To look up at a murmuration of starlings is an experience like no other. Hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of starlings fly together as one flock. The group ripples, whirls, and waves as each bird stays close to its neighbors in a harmonious synchronicity of movement.
The story is told from the point of view of the flock, which gives the reader an inside look at what is happening, and the breathtaking illustrations perfectly capture the ebb and flow of a murmuration. Young readers will witness and fully appreciate the extraordinary communication and collaboration abilities of these birds and may be able to apply these lessons to their own lives.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Voicing a collective identity through the first-person plural "we," starlings perform a fractal air ballet in this spare look at the species' movements. As the pages turn, Furrow and Napoli's minimal text traces starlings gathering into a "giant flock" (hundreds, then thousands, then millions). Martin's expressive multimedia spreads grow accordingly, approximating the undulating black shapes of the birds swirling in unison against a peach-hued sunset. Further lines describe the sound that gives a murmuration its name ("We flap flap our wings,/ making a murmur even those/ on the ground can hear") and mode of avoiding predators (when the cluster veers, a peregrine falcon rocketing into the flock "can't target any one of us"). Further emphasizing starlings' group movements, pages end with the birds' landing "all at once.... / a sudden plop/ to earth—the starling way." A brief note concludes. Ages 4–8.
