Book Description
Here is the incredible true story of a Red-tailed Hawk that makes himself at home in the most unlikely of places--atop a high-rise apartment building in New York City. Named Pale Male by his many fans, this majestic bird not only endures in this urban environment, he thrives. But when the residents have Pale Male's nest removed from their building, a historic battle--and triumph--ensues, uniting bird lovers everywhere.
With Jeanette Winter's beloved folk art-inspired illustrations and soulful insight into the spirit of this beautiful hawk, this is a book that will delight nature enthusiasts of all ages.
Includes an author's note.
Customer Reviews:
High-flying fun.......2007-04-24
"The Tale of Pale Male" is a gussied-up true story for the Picture Book set. Remember Pale Male--a Red-tailed hawk--and his Fifth Avenue perch? (Mary Tyler Moore lives in his building.) Remember how Pale Male brought his gal pal Lola to his favorite spot and they built a nest? Remember the birdwatchers down below and the momentous birth of two "hungry chicks"?
Pale Male and Lola set off a media storm when they build their huge nest and begin circling the skies of Manhattan. People lined the street to watch the birds fly and the chicks hatch. Winter chronicles their story and their abrupt eviction from 927 Fifth Avenue when downstairs neighbors complain of the "evidence of Lola's meals" falling on "to the balcony below." (Note: Winter includes only bones, leaves, and twigs in this "evidence.") Media and public outrage follow culminating in the restoration of Pale Male's home.
Winter successfully combines two stories in "The Tale of Pale Male." On the one hand it's the story of people standing up for nature even in the heart of Manhattan. On the other hand, it's a nature story--we learn how Red-tail hawks build nests, what they eat, and how they live.
Winter's pallette of grays, purples, and teals beautifully suits Pale Male's city life, especially when contrasted with the opening pages illustrated in the greens, blues and browns of a Red-tailed hawk's life in nature. An "author's note" at the end of the book gives us the straight story.
"The Tale of Pale Male" is best suited for readers ages four to eight. School-aged children in kindergarten through second grade will especially like "The Tale of Pale Male" at story time. Its dual story line will appeal to city slickers and nature lovers alike.
Amazon.com
The literature of bird watching is full of memoirs set in out-of-the-way, rural locales, but few are set in the heart of big cities such as New York, where Wall Street Journal ornithology columnist Marie Winn hangs her hat. In this delightful account, Winn tells of birding in Central Park with an unlikely band of fellow enthusiasts (including Mary Tyler Moore and Woody Allen). Among her objects of study were a pair of increasingly uncommon wood thrushes who set up their nest in the park's Ramble, treating city dwellers to their "penetrating, flutelike, heart-stoppingly beautiful song: Ee-oh-lee, ee-oh-loo-ee-lee, ee-lay-loo," and a pair of red-tail hawks who courted, mated, and produced offspring, thus quickening the spirits of Manhattanites. Both urbanites and those inclined to country matters will enjoy Winn's gracefully written story of observation and discovery.
Book Description
Marie Winn is our guide into a secret world, a true wilderness in the heart of a city. The scene is New York's Central Park, but the rich natural history that emerges here--the loons, raccoons, woodpeckers, owls, and hundreds of visiting songbirds--will appeal to wildlife lovers everywhere. At its heart is the saga of the Fifth Avenue hawks, which begins as a love story and develops into a full-fledged mystery.
At the outset of our journey we meet the Regulars, a small band of nature lovers who devote themselves to the park and its wildlife. As they watch Pale Male, a remarkable young red-tailed hawk, woo and win his first mate, they are soon transformed into addicted hawk-watchers. From a bench at the park's model-boat pond they observe the hawks building a nest in an astonishing spot--a high ledge of a Fifth Avenue building three floors above Mary Tyler Moore's apartment and across the street from Woody Allen's.
The drama of the Fifth Avenue hawks--hunting, courting, mating, and striving against great odds to raise a family in their unprecedented nest site--is alternately hilarious and heartbreaking. Red-Tails in Love will delight and inspire readers for years to come.
Customer Reviews:
wonderful story.......2007-02-12
I live in Portland Oregon, and have large populations of birds in my back yard, so this was a fun read. Perhaps i will visit NYC someday, and i will bring my glasses! What a nice book!
Birding in central Park.......2007-01-06
Although the star of this book is Pale Male, there are also wonderful stories of encounters with other birds. Marie Winn is a good writer and this is a very entertaining book for anyone interested in Pale Male or birding in Central Park.
SHOULD BE RE-NAMED.......2006-11-10
I was hoping for a more in depth article on Pale Male. This book had a more general theme to it pertaining to all the birds/wildlife in the park. It was okay, I am glad I didn't buy it, a friend let me read hers. I absolutely love, and purchased after watching it, Pale Male, the video produced by Nature, narrated by Joane Woodward.
Repeated Enjoyment.......2005-11-10
Every year goes by and this simple tale becomes more treasured and heartwarming. I have given dozens of copies of this book to friends, birders and non interested alike. Everyone is grateful for the inspiration that this unusual piece of nature brings.
We watch eagles return to a nest along a stretch of the Llano River that falls in line with a highly traveled highway and the human reaction is just the same as the thousands of New Yorkers. Scores and scores of strangers with craned necks and binoculars in raised and ready position, standing in the back of their truck beds only to get a little closer to the marvel of the eagles on the the back side of our very own ranch and river.
From fall to spring each year my weekend exploration includes a trip to see the eagles and I am always thinking through whom else I could share Red Tails In Love with...it is not hard.
Purchased this book in protest against Pale Male's eviction.......2004-12-16
As a New Yorker, I hadn't really paid much attention to Pale Male before this unfortunate state of affairs. There was something shockingly callous and arrogant in the way the board of 927 Fifth Avenue destroyed this magnificent bird's home. I hope the hawks will eventually get their nest back.
I would like to find out more about this star's history and family. My whole family is now crazy about him and Lola.
Hail Pale Male!
Book Description
Anyone who has fallen under the spell of the hummingbird will treasure this lovable true story of a young ruby-throated hummingbird who becomes part of someone's household and life.
57 full-color photographs; 10 black-and-white drawings.
Customer Reviews:
A Humming Bird in My House: The Story of Squeak.......2007-09-30
We were given this book that is filled with wonderful close up observations about one hummingbird. The author shares how she learned so much when a hummingbird over stayed his summer visit and how she helped "Squeak" until the following spring. The book was very enjoyable. We are hummingbird lovers and feed them.
Enjoyable and heartwarming........2007-08-04
A heart warming story and a great read. If you enjoy birds or wildlife you will like reading this book. The quick thinking and commitment by the author
saved this little hummers life.
THIS IS A VERY SPECIAL JOURNEY.......2007-06-19
which the talented and admirable writer, Arnette Heidcamp, leads the reader through - namely, the first months of a Hummingbird's life, from the beginning of winter to the advent of spring.
Ms. Heidcamp has amazing expertise in both bird and plant life, and what one appreciates also is her great love of them both. One wants to thank her for this lovely book and for the precious photographs which accompany it.
Throughout the book, the reader gets to know Squeak more and more, to understand the habits and traits of this darling hummingbird, and to realize what an intelligence it has. Ms. Heidcamp is dedicated and devoted and, yes, the ending is sad. I have to admit I shed a tear or two as a reader saying goodby. I can only imagine what an emotional time Ms. Heidcamp had to go through, after fostering this hummingbird so carefully and intimately, when the time came to set Squeak free.
I have alredy got several of Ms. Heidcamp's other books lined up to read, and even signed up with Random House to get an e-mail notice when she has a new book published.
I can't praise this wonderful literary and photographic pursuit highly enough. Reading this book was a true joy!
Absolutely beautiful photography and lovely story.......2007-02-24
Very beautiful photography and a touching story of how the author was able to create a relationship with a very tiny and fragile creature who otherwise would not have survived the winter.
Well worth buying.......2006-11-05
If you have any interest in hummingbirds at all, you should read this book. It is a quick read, heart-warming, heart-breaking, packed full of beautiful photos and tons of information about hummingbird behavior.
Book Description
"Irresistibly seductive….Murder mystery, historical novel, portal to another time; The Blackest Bird is a masterpiece."—Anthony Bourdain
In the sweltering New York City summer of 1841, Mary Rogers, a popular counter girl at a tobacco shop in Manhattan, is found brutally ravaged in the shallows of the Hudson River. John Colt, scion of the firearm fortune, beats his publisher to death with a hatchet. And young Irish gang leader Tommy Coleman is accused of killing his daughter, his wife, and his wife's former lover. Charged with solving it all is High Constable Jacob Hays, the city's first detective. At the end of a long and distinguished career, Hays's investigation will ultimately span a decade, involving gang wars, grave robbers, and clues hidden in poems by the hopeless romantic and minstrel of the night: Edgar Allan Poe.
Customer Reviews:
A tour de force, in some respects.......2007-05-27
According to his acknowledgments, Joel Rose spent eighteen years writing THE BLACKEST BIRD, easy to believe since most of it is written in nineteenth century newspaper jargon. The following is a description of Jacob Hays, "Old Hays," High Constable of New York City: "Equipped solely with his long ash constable's staff, he would proceed from one to another, knocking the hat off the most vituperative, then, when said individual went to retrieve his aggrieved topper, sending him flying with a swift kick to the rump, effectively rendering his participation harmless." Rose was able to hold true to this recondite argot for 475 pages, a Herculean accomplishment in my mind.
THE BLACKEST BIRD refers to Edgar Allen Poe's nickname, The Raven. Poe is a major player in the narrative. At the beginning of the novel, Old Hays, now almost seventy, must deal with three murders, those of Mary Rogers, a "segar" store clerk, Samual Adams, publisher to John Colt brother of Samuel Colt of six-shooter fame, and the daughter and wife of gangster Tommy Coleman. The latter two are open-and-shut cases and both men wind up in the Tombs, notorious New York City prison. Edgar Allen Poe is a suspect in the Mary Rogers case, primarily because of a thinly-disguised short story he wrote about Mary, a former lover.
Joel Rose's portrayal of Edgar Allen Poe might strike some readers as suspect. He is depicted as a megalomaniac, not above plagiarism and blackmail. Towards the end of his life we see him pingponging back and forth between three different women, all of whom he asked to marry him. Somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind I remember a reference to a Poe biographer who hated him with a passion. Rose mentions two of Poe's must hated rivals, literary critic Rufus Griswald and newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett. Rose insists, once more in his acknowledgments, that neither worked in concert against Poe, but apparently he believed every rumor he read about Poe, because he goes so far as to infer that Jacob Hays' daughter helped him write "The Bells" when Poe was suffering from brain fever.
THE BLACKEST BIRD lags in spots and the ending seems a bit rushed, but overall I enjoyed it. It's certainly more original than the serial killer rubbish we're constantly subjected to these days.
"Good citizens will tell the truth.".......2007-03-17
In 1841, New York City is bound in a unique social construct, the city teeming with Americans of every walk of life, the very wealthy, the great working class and a rich pool of literary talent, all juxtaposed with newspapers that fight for readership, corrupt backroom politics and gangs of leatherheads who compete as fire brigades, the city a microcosm of a rapidly changing world. One impressive figure, Jacob Hays, High Commissioner of New York City for forty-two years, is notably the city's first detective, at the time sixty-nine years old, with no plans for retirement in spite of his advancing years. His office located in the newly built prison, the euphemistically named "Tombs", "Old Hays" has his finger on the pulse of the city as a series of murders give the newspapers no end of speculation.
The most notorious murder is that of Mary Rogers, a woman with many admirers who has graced a local tobacconist's shop that serves as a gathering place for such luminaries as James Fennimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe, all of whom reflect the bizarre balance of dramatic Victorian fiction, poetry and a journalism defined by sensationalism. The city's appetite whetted by the brutal murder of the striking young woman, another outrageous crime focuses attention on the unexpected slaying of writer/publisher Charles Adams by John C Colt, brother of the inventor of the Colt revolver, an influential family. After his trial Colt is sentenced to die, his quarters in the Tombs markedly different from the other prisoners, attended to by a manservant, his cell obscured by draperies, meals delivered by the finest restaurants.
Across from Colt on death row is yet another condemned man, Tommy Coleman, leader of the Forty Little Thieves, one of the infamous gangs that create havoc in the poorest part of the city, Five Points. Tommy is charged with killing his wife, a hot corn girl, and her little daughter, although he insists they were murdered by the woman's former lover, Ruby Pearl. Tommy's insists his only crime, is killing Pearl after finding him by the slaughtered bodies. From the lowest echelon of society, Tommy's prospects are bleak. It is Old Hays task to ferret out the truth of these crimes and he applies himself with his usual mental vigor; unfortunately a fire in the prison complicates the pursuit of justice.
One of the most pivotal characters in the novel is the aggrieved Edgar Allen Poe, who interviews both Colt and Coleman while they are incarcerated and brings suspicion upon himself. Fascinated by the study of physiognomy, Hays believes a man's face is reflective of his character. To Hays, Poe is both an interesting and suspicious person; their lives become a series of contretemps, especially once Poe writes a chilling narrative of Mary Roger's murder as a thinly-veiled fiction in a local magazine. Blending the criminal element with the literary ambitions and expanding world of publishing, Rose has created a unique blend of crime and literature, unchecked passions and one author's steady decline while grappling with the self-destructive nature his particular talent. From thugs and murderers to the luxurious boardrooms of the powerful, Hays remains undeterred, shadowed by the sad and desperate life of the shattered genius of the author of "The Raven". Luan Gaines/ 2007.
Book Description
Central Park is an 843-acre oasis in the middle of Manhattan's vast network of steel, concrete, and glass. It is also, according to the New York City Audubon Society, one of the top ten birding spots in America. More than 200 species pass through the park on their migratory routes each spring and fall, close to one third of the bird species found in the United States. For the past two and a half years Cal Vornberger has been in the park every day photographing these feathered park residents. The best of those images are now collected in this gorgeous volume.
Vornberger's photos capture birds engaged in all types of activities: feeding, bathing, caring for their young, flying, singing. Among the more than 100 species featured are warblers, egrets, herons, kingfishers, a boreal owl, and hawks (including the famous Pale Male, whose eviction last December from its ritzy Fifth Avenue perch sparked nationwide news stories). Packaged inside the book is a removable foldout pocket guide. Vornberger's spectacular photography, interspersed with his comments about birds, the park, and photography, will appeal to all bird-watchers, nature lovers, photography aficionados, and visitors to New York's Central Park.
Customer Reviews:
Fabulous Book.......2007-06-27
If you like birds, you'll love the unbelievable photographs. If you like Central Park, you'll enjoy the map on the front and back flats which help you identify where the pictures were taken. Glad I purchased this book.
More than just pretty pictures........2007-02-27
I'm not an ornithology buff, but I am a serious amateur photographer. I also happen to live in New York City and do a lot of shooting in Central Park.
I've seen Cal Vornberger a few times as he was going about his business and intensely bringing his huge 600mm lens to bear on some unsuspecting bird.
Until purchasing the book, my exposure (no pun intended) to Vornberger's work was limited to a few looks at his website.
While there are some standard "bird on a stick" shots, they do not by any means make up the majority of the photos. Frankly, anyone with a long lens can take a picture of a perched bird.
What sets Vornberger apart is his knowledge of each species and having the patience to wait for his subjects to be doing something interesting. His shots of so many different species going about the business of feeding, nesting and simply interacting with each other are outstanding.
The printing is excellent and the essays by Vornberger and Marie Winn are informative and very well written. I spend a lot of time in Central Park shooting general nature subjects, but Vornberger's maps led me to discover some areas of the park that I'd never before explored.
If you have any interest in birds, Central Park or photography, this is a must buy.
From a non-New Yorker.......2006-01-15
I have not yet heard from my sister and brother-in-law, who were the recipients of this Christmas gift. They have an apartment on Central Park, but also have a place in Key West and may not yet have received the present. I thought it was a handsome book.
Simply AMAZING.......2006-01-03
Just one look at the images of the beautiful Warblers amongst the tree limbs will melt your heart... This is one to definately have on your coffee table!!!
In Central Park without Binoculars.......2005-11-06
Birds flying up and down the Atlantic flyway inevitably encounter a huge patch of concrete, asphalt and brick. In the center they see a large patch of green, with plants and insects. That's why Central Park in New York City is one of the best birding spots in North America. Several hundred avian species can be found there. In addition, there is another species there in large number, Homo sapiens birdwatcher and still another smaller subspecies, Homo sapiens bird photographer.
With all these birds, birders and bird photographers, there was a huge niche for a book called "Birds of Central Park". Cal Vornberger has filled that niche.
Vornberger has digitally captured the wide variety of birds that pass through Central Park. He presents these birds by season rather than in taxonomical order, which helps to give an impression of the bird life in the park the way that a birder would see it. Like all good photographers Cal is concerned with the light. But his style is different from those of other bird photographers, like Art Morris or Tom Vezo. Instead of being concerned with artistic composition, or deep focus to give a sense of the environment, the author seems aimed at a sense of intimacy with the individual birds. Most of the birds pictured fill the frame completely, forcing us to focus on the individual.
What is amazing is not only how close Vornberger has gotten to his subjects, but how he has caught them in the details of their daily lives. I have never seen so many photographs of birds with food, whether insects, berries or crustaceans, in their mouth. And he has caught many of these birds in flight, reminding me of the bird pictures of the great Eliot Porter. But the artist that Vornberger's portraits most remind me of is the great John James Audubon. There is this same sense of intimacy and presentation against a subtle background.
Occasionally, Vornberger brings his own special aesthetic to the book, as when he pictures a cardinal taking off in the snow on the face page to the winter section. The bird's wings are cut off, the bird faces away from us and the only way that the reader can tell that the white background is snow is from the white snowflakes that follow the bird's ascent. And yet this picture captures a moment better than most technically perfect photographs.
Vornberger's occasional remarks interspersed with the pictures often present a little known fact about the subject or give a hint to other bird photographers hoping to duplicate his accomplishments.
This book should not be considered a guide to Central Park's birds, although there is a convenient pocket guide in a slipcover in the back of the book. Instead it is a testimonial to the birds of Central Park. New York lovers, birders and photographers will want to page through this book to recall the avian pleasures of the park.
Average customer rating:
- Classical allusions
- contintment is virtue
- Hey yourself!
- Great book for teaching values!
- This book is fun to read!!
|
Hey, Al
Arthur Yorinks
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Classics by Age
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Egielski, Richard
| ( E )
| Authors & Illustrators, A-Z
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Yorinks, Arthur
| ( Y )
| Authors & Illustrators, A-Z
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Song and Dance Man
-
Owl Moon
-
Snowflake Bentley (Caldecott Medal Book)
-
Joseph Had a Little Overcoat (Caldecott Medal Book)
-
Smoky Night
ASIN: 0374330603 |
Amazon.com
The plot of this book, for 4-year-olds and up, involves the travails of Al, a janitor who lives in a dingy apartment on Manhattan's West Side with his dog Eddie. One day, a funny-looking bird sticks its huge head through Al's bathroom window and proposes a journey to a terrific place where there are "no worries" and "no cares." Al agrees and takes Eddie with him. What the two experience is paradise--butterflies, wildflowers, chirping birds and cool streams--but it soon gives way to the uncertainties of being away from home, and a moral: that home is where the heart is. This sharp, wry and tender story, which won the 1987 Caldecott Medal, marks Yorinks' and Egielski's fourth highly praised collaborative work.
Book Description
Al, a janitor, and his faithful dog, Eddie, live in a single room on the West Side. They eat together, they work together, they do everything together. So what's the problem?
Thier room is crowded and cramped; their life is an endless struggle. Al and Eddie are practically at eachothers throats when a large and mysterious bird offers them a new life in paradise. After some debate, they decide to accept.
Transported to a gorgeous island in the sky, Al and Eddie are soon living a life of ease and luxury. But they come to find that the grass can be a little too green on the other side. After a dramatic, nearly tragic escape from their paradise prison, both man and dog agree: there really is no place like home.
Customer Reviews:
Classical allusions.......2006-03-06
We read this after having read Homer's Odyssey together. Yorinks draws from it heavily, referencing the Lotus Eaters as well as other tales. My daughter also felt there was a connection to the Garden of Eden story.
This is also a good follow-up to a visit to the zoo or an aviary. DD wanted to identify all of the different bird species depicted in the illustrations.
contintment is virtue.......2006-02-07
There is a good lesson for young and old alike to be found in this story, "the grass is always greener on the other side". I really enjoyed this book I thought the author was very in tune to the audience in which he was writing to. This was ilistrated in the vivid color and the cheractors he chose as well to tell his story. When Al's dog is tired of their drab life he convinces Al to make a change, and for a while it seemed to be paradise, accept the longer they stayed there the more they found themselves changeing into something they didn't want to be.
Hey yourself!.......2004-07-27
I was eight years old when this book came out in 1986. Before I even knew that this book existed I used to play a great game with my fellow kidlets. Everyone got onto the bed and someone below the bed was a huge alligator named Al. The goal was to stick your head over the side of the bed and yell, "Hey, Al!", and avoid getting grabbed. When I saw the book, "Hey, Al", I was disappointed to find that there weren't any alligators involved. The similarities to my favorite game were limited, but there was one thing that was the same. That heart stopping feeling you got when you stuck your head over the side, not knowing what you'd find or when you'd get grabbed... that's the feeling you get after reading, "Hey, Al".
Al's just your normal janitor living with his dog in a one room apartment in New York. As the book says, he's, "a nice man, a quiet man, a janitor". Eddie, Al's dog and partner, is fed up with their life at the moment but there isn't much the two can do about it. One day, while Al's shaving in the bathroom, a huge blue bird sticks its head in the window. The bird promises that if Al merely comes with him he'll find a place without any worries and cares. The next day, Al and Eddie wait patiently in the bathroom and the bird arrives to fly them up up up to an island in the sky. Once there the two eat and drink and swim and sunbathe all day. It's a little paradise. But this world starts to go terribly terribly wrong when Al wakes up one day to find that both he and Eddie are turning into birds. Suddenly the honeymoon is over and the two friends must fly for their lives back to their little apartment in New York to return to normal. In the end, the two friends are a little wiser and a little happier with their lot.
Author Arthur Yorinks and illustrator Richard Egielski were great fans of the weird dream-like picture book. I don't know if you're at all familiar with their similarly peculiar and far more odd "Louis the Fish", but "Hey, Al" is written (and drawn) in very much the same vein. I was slightly disturbed by "Hey, Al" when I read it as a kid and that feeling has persisted in the eighteen years since I last looked at it. I think illustrator Egielski gives a nod to the otherworldly island paradise Al and Eddie end up in when he draws into his scene of birds welcoming the visitors a dodo with human hands and a walking stick (much as you would find in the original Tenniel drawing of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"). Somehow the combination of bright colors and an ever so slightly off narrative gives the book that otherworldly quality that made it so unique when it was first published. The range of birds available on the island (everything from ostriches and pink flamingos to penguins and puffins) help as well.
Kids will love speculating whether or not the other birds on the sunny isle were once human too. What is clear in the end, however, is the small still moral that staying true to one's self is better than all the riches in the world. The final line in the book is the undeniable statement, "Paradise lost is sometimes Heaven found". A little light philosophy for a toddler's growing mind.
Great book for teaching values!.......2004-03-18
"Paradise lost is sometimes heaven found" is the closing line in Hey, Al, a wonderful book that has a timeless moral for both kids and adults. Al is a janitor who is not happy with how is life is going. He lives in a room with his dog, Eddie, who is also not happy with his situation. One day a bird appears at the window promising to bring them to a better place, "no worries, no cares". Of course, something that sounds that good probably isn't.
This book is definitely an entertaining story. The pictures are colorful and very detailed. Kids will love looking at them and pointing out all the different birds and laugh at the silly transformation that Al and Eddie go through. I think they will also get the story, that what you have is usually better than what you lust for. Everyone, at some point in their life, dreams about something better. This book is a great reality check for us, giving a serious message in a kid's book.
This book is fun to read!!.......2003-06-06
Hey, Al, by Arthur Yorinks and Richard Egielski, is a story about Al and Eddie, the dog, going to paradise.
Al, a nice, quiet, janitor, lived in a small but very neat apartment on the West Side of New York City with his faithful dog, Eddie. They were always struggling. Eddie hoped for a house with a backyard.
All that changed one morning when Al was startled by a huge bird said, "tommorow I will bring you to paradise." The bird offers Al and Eddie a change. The next morning, both are ready and waiting in the bathroom.the bird carries them to the paradise.
The theme of this story is that "your own home is the best place to be." Al and Eddie were much happier in their own house than in the paradise. Everyone will like this book, because it has beautiful pictures and ideas.
Book Description
Stellina was a bird: “CHEEP.”
A very little bird: “Cheep! cheep!”
So begins critically acclaimed author Matteo Pericoli’s all-true story of how he and his wife, Holly, came to rescue and raise a little finch, Stellina, in the middle of New York City. When no zoo would take the abandoned bird, fallen from her nest onto a busy street, Holly took her home and gave her the best life she could. And there, in a Manhattan apartment, Stellina leaned how to eat, fly, and sing.
Customer Reviews:
charming illustrations, wonderful story.......2007-04-06
This illustrations in this book are refreshing-- they are charming without being kitsch. They pique the imagination without surpressing it as some of the more photorealistic illustrations in childrens books tend to do.
Beware-- this book does deal with death, but it does so in a very gentle way. My children loved this book. I enjoyed it as well. The repetitive style also makes it suitable for younger children (older babies/toddlers) despite its length.
The True Story of Stellina.......2007-01-09
This is a wonderful story about a couple who find an abandoned baby bird in a busy intersection and take it home to raise it. It is very touching because of their love that grew for little baby Stellina. She became a member of their family. My grandchildren love this kind and tender story and want me to read it to them again and again. The artwork is also delightful. I recommend this book for children and adults alike. My grandchildren are 2 to 9 and they all love it.
The True Story of Stellina.......2006-11-10
This is a beautifully told story that is very refreshing and sensitive, bringing tears to adult eyes and causing smiles and cooing in the young listeners. The ilustrations are delightful. Nothing but praise for this children's book.
Little Star.......2006-05-18
I was in the American Museum of Natural History last month, or rather, in their gift shop (honestly, is there any better place to shop for kiddie stuff?) when I noticed Pericoli's impressive rendering of the city skyline, Manhattan Unfurled, on prominent display.
I knew that on my shelf sat a more humble volume of his, about a single bird and not an entire cityscape. Stellina was a finch chick rescued by his wife, Holly, when she heard its tiny peeps at her feet above the roar of traffic.
While a press release and the book itself make much of the love that sprung between rescuer and foundling, I was struck more by Pericoli's obvious awe of his wife. He dotes on the way she fed the bird by trickling juice down her pinky, or played piano to inspire it to sing, or schlepped it in a plastic box whereever she went until it was old enough to be left alone in her tiny apartment.
He also refers to her as "Holly, my wife" on every single reference, in case you miss it. An end note explains she was only his future wife when Stellina peeped into their lives, and further confuses matters by saying a security guard first rescued the bird. There is no guard in Pericoli's narrative.
There is, however, what appears to be a lovely, stylized rendering of Holly, with an elongated nose and slender frame, dabbled with just enough watercolor to suggest her clothes or Stellina's plumage. Pericoli's use of pigment is like his spare prose, giving us only what's essential:
"It was evening when Holly, my wife,
decided to take Stellina home with her.
"They sat together for a while,
looking at each other,
and both must have wondered:
'And now? What's going to happen now?'"
Stellina finally died after eight years as Holly's well-tended pet, probably a better lifespan than she could've expected in the wild (I'm guessing). This tribute to the bird -- but really to its keeper -- is much like a splotch of warm color in the big, gray city.
Charming.......2006-04-13
One of the honors of being a school librarian is the opportunity to be there for some of the small but very important moments of your students lives.
Reading The True Story of Stellina reminded me of an early morning visit from a student who came in before school and asked "Do we have any books on birds?" Well, what do you want to find out about birds? Is this for a report? Is there any special type of bird you are looking for?
She was clutching a shoebox and slowly lifted the lid and began to explain how she had found-this-baby-bird-on-the-sidewalk-on-the-way-to-school-and-she-had-run-run-all-the-way-back-home-to-find-a-shoebox-and-now-she-had-it-in-the-box and-see-the-sticks-and-leaves-she-had-added? She needed to find out how to take care of the bird so she had come to her library to get help.
We ended up enlisting the help of our school nurse who is a professional 4-H mom, and has raised just about every kind of animal imaginable. I cannot remember now what happened to the bird but my young friend would have been enchanted by this gentle story.
Matteo Pericoli's wife hears a "cheep" and finds a baby bird on the noisy streets of Manhattan. She takes the little bird home and manages to feed it and care for it. Stellina lives and thrives and repays the couple with companionship and love for eight years. The drawings are light and delicate like the bird whose story they are telling. I am looking forward to sharing it with kids. They will be charmed.
Product Description
Learn about and identify birds using Stan Tekiela's state-by-state field guides. The full-page, color photos are incomparable and include insets of winter plumage, color morphs and more. Plus, with the easy-to-use format, you don't need to know a bird's name or classification in order to easily find it in the book. Using this field guide is a real pleasure. It's a great way for anyone to learn about the birds in your state.
Customer Reviews:
excellent!.......2007-07-31
We are having lots and lots of wild birds come to our deck to feed from our feeder. But we had no idea what they were, and we'd always wanted to learn their names. Just recently we purchased this book and the CD that goes with it, and yes, we are learning very quickly! Now we know the names of all the birds that come to our deck, and we know how they sing too!
The book is very easy to use, as it devides the birds by their colors. It tells you the size, male/female differences, what they eat, where they migrate, and their habits and all that. The amount of info is just right for us. If it had more, we would have been overwhelmed.
The CD is also excellent. Stan talks a little too fast, but he's clear enough. He explains different ways of the birds singing, chirping, calling, etc. Now we can recognize who's making all that noise in the morning around our house! We're also beginning to notice the different behaviors and how they act/react to certain things. It's just so much fun to observe them.
He has done a lot of work to put the book and CD together. I really appreciate his effort. The pictures are pretty clear, most of the birds come with male and female photos, some with juveniles, winter/summer colors, etc. My husband is carrying his Zune around all the time to listen to the recording. Listening to it makes you feel like living in a forest. The recording is very clear too, and with Stan's explanation, very easy to recognize the voices of the birds.
We're soooo glad that we got this book/CD!
Great Pictures & Facts.......2007-04-11
I recently became interested in birds and happened to come across this book at a local Barnes and Noble. After picking it up, I found that I really liked this book.
The first thing that I liked about this book were the pictures. Each picture of a bird is a real, close-up, full-page photograph of the bird. The pictures offer ample detail of each particular bird.
I also liked the facts that went along with each bird. There are basic facts given about each bird and the facts are also what I would consider to correlate with common questions one would have about a bird such as size, differences in appearances between genders, migration, and the type of food they eat along with other facts. This book is also categorized by colors of birds. Also, next to the name of each bird, there is a small picture of NY state indicating where the bird is seen and during what time. Overall, I think that this book is very informative and easy to use.
The Best Bird Field Guide Available!!.......2006-02-22
This is a wonderful book. It has beautiful, full PAGE, color PHOTOGRAPHS of each bird in the book. How can someone argue with a photograph? Photographs are so much easier to use in identifying birds than drawings. Drawings are always subject to the interpretation of the artist who drew and painted them, and I have found that the artist's interpretation in other bird field guides often do NOT match what I observe in the field.
This book also has the BEST layout of any bird field guide I have ever seen. The book is color coded and each color coded section represents the prominent colors of the bird. For example, a cardinal is in the "red" section of the book.
A previous reviewer had noted that this book doesn't contain all species of birds that may visit New York. While this may be true, I have ALWAYS been able to find the birds that I have seen in the wild in this book. Furthermore, if additional birds were added, it is likely that the field guide would no longer be small and portable.
The book also contains wonderful information for each bird, such as unusual habits, differences between the sexes, etc.
There is also an excellent audio CD which accompanies this book. Although it is hard to find, this CD is spectacular! It follows the book exactly, and the 2nd edition of the book actually notes the CD and track number for each bird. The CD provides examples of each of the various sounds that the birds make, for example, the chickadee makes several different calls. There is also a narrator on the CD who gives a brief, but informative introduction, to the bird's calls/songs.
If you live in New York and are a bird watcher, I highly recommend this book. I'll bet you'll find yourself using it more than any other field guide, I know I do!
as a beginner, this is great!.......2003-07-01
Great little book for somebody like me, who just started trying to figure out what those birds are at my feeders. It's just enough info for me to take in and make me want more. So far, with great pleasure, I've found everything I've seen in western New York in this book. And I love the oddball facts.
good for beginners.......2001-02-12
When I saw this book I thought it was really great. It has a few features I love but also a few things I hate.
The good: It features a very easy color coding method to look up birds. I think this is a great method for spotting birds quickly. Far better than other guides color coding. If you see a black bird, you go to the black tabbed area, and see all birds that are black, very easy.
I also like that it documents a state, New York, instead of a region. It makes the book into a nice novelty.
Well, thats really it for the good. So the bad?
The book only lists 120 birds out of over 450 that have been sited in New York! Thats a big gap of missing birds! It's not even half the birds. I feel the book should have documented at least 240 of them. But, at least the 120 birds listed are the most commonly seen -I suppose.
Some photos in the book are off. I think perhaps some of the birds are mounted and not live birds. The book lists only One bird as being a mounted bird, due to it's elusiveness. But if you look at the photo of the common pigeon (rock dove) you can clearly see the photo shows a purple colored pigeon? I have never in all my life in New York seen a purple pigeon?!?!?!
Other photos don't seem that far off, but still... if one photo is like that, it makes you wonder if you'll stumble upon others.
The book fails to record the birds wing spans, which is odd. As this is quite useful. But the other info provided is decent.
For the price however, this book doesn't offer much!
The "Audubon field guide to eastern birds" is a far better purchase. You get 508 different birds opposed to the skimpy 120 in this book. But my personal taste is for the "Stokes field guide: eastern region". It's better then the Audubon guide in my opinion, easier to find birds quickly, with information on each bird where it should be!
So, my thoughts: This books layout and color system are great! It's the best type of layout for identifying birds in the field. The drawback is it's poor photo depictions, which in some cases, make it hard to identify birds by their color (very ironic?). The number of birds listed for the high price of this book is "far" too expensive!
This book maybe useful to some leisure bird viewers, as I'm sure it's intended. Who watch birds in their own yard and neibourhood, but it is clearly not for anyone who goes out looking to identify birds. If anything, its a good coffee table book. But again, for approx. the same price, you can get a professional guide. "Stokes Field Guide to Birds", that features 449 birds with better photos, some spieces featuring multiple photos of alternate viewing angles of the same bird. With vastly more informative info!
A NOTE ABOUT ILLUSTRATED FIELD GUIDES
Illustrated guides are normally more useful for correct identifications due to the fact that Artists create an image of "the perfect bird". Photographic guides are great because they show an image of the actual bird. The added benefit is the photo may show the bird amongst it's natural habitat.
The down side a photographic guide is the accuracy of the photo. Being dependent on the ability of the photographer to capture an optimal image of the bird. A very difficult task since the bird is normally photographed with uncontrolled conditions. Lighting differences, weather variations, and capturing the proper angle of the bird, all effect the outcome of the photo. With no way to reproduce exact results from bird to bird.
Illustrated guides, like photographic their cousins, are likewise dependent on the skill of the artist. However, artists work under controlled conditions. Normally using plenty of reference to render each bird with the most discriminative details, in a consistent manner. Thus the images produced are of far more value for identification then photographic guides.
Thats why most serious bird watchers and ornithologists choose an illustrated guide as their definite reference. If they need one at all that is.
(EDIT Dec 2006: National Geographic just released their fifth edition of their illustrated "Field guide to birds of North America", I recommend it.)
Average customer rating:
- a sequel that is as good as the first in a series
- Another Good One
- Nice suprise
- Awesome book!
- This is the thing...
|
Dark Hollow
John Connolly
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| Classics
| Contemporary
| General
| Historical
| Humor
| Letters & Correspondence
| Middle
| Old
| Poetry
| Renaissance
| Shakespeare
| Short Stories
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Every Dead Thing
-
The Killing Kind
-
The White Road
-
THE BLACK ANGEL
-
Bad Men: A Thriller
ASIN: 0743203321 |
Amazon.com
Charlie "Bird" Parker, the protagonist of John Connolly's Shamus Award-winning first novel, Every Dead Thing, returns in another moody, masterful thriller set in the beautifully evoked Maine woods where Bird has returned to lick his wounds and recover from the murder of his wife and daughter explored in the earlier book. A half-hearted investigator, Bird agrees to track down the ex-husband of Rita Purdue and get the child support she has coming to her. And when Rita and her son are killed and the finger of suspicion points to Billy Purdue, Bird still feels a moral obligation to find the young man, even though he can't believe he's a killer. Then the bodies begin piling up, among them a bunch of Cambodian killers, some mob-connected Boston gangsters, a couple of people to whom Billy turned for refuge, and an old woman in a nursing home who dies with the name of a bogeyman on her lips--the mysterious Caleb Kyle. It's not the first time Bird's heard that name: his grandfather, who was also a cop, spent his last years trying to track down the legendary monster whose name was always used to scare kids into doing what they were supposed to. And it's not only his grandfather's ghost that haunts Bird as he attempts to solve the mystery of who Billy Purdue really is; the spirits of his dead wife and child urge him on in his attempt to find justice for Rita and her child as well. Aided in his quest by two unlikely but compellingly realized associates, a gay hit man and his lover, Bird confronts the evil that lurks in a mythical monster who turns out to be all too real, and comes to terms, finally, with the grief that has colored his life black since the death of his family. A powerful, well-paced thriller with a complex and interesting hero who bears even further explication--hopefully in his third adventure. --Jane Adams
Book Description
When John Connolly burst upon the literary suspense scene in 1999, he was an immediate international sensation. His Every Dead Thing became an instantaneous bestseller in England, and here in America, his writing was greeted with extraordinary accolades. He won the prestigious Shamus Award for Best First Private Eye Novel, and, as the San Francisco Examiner wrote, "John Connolly's tale is as riveting and chilling as Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs and James Patterson's Kiss the Girls."
Now, Connolly returns with Dark Hollow, a terrifying and ingenious novel of a murderous spree that reaches back decades into the victims' pasts. Back again is ex-New York Police Detective Charlie "Bird" Parker, who has returned to his hometown of Scarborough, Maine, after the vicious killings of his wife and daughter; it is time to leave the bloodstained streets of Manhattan and rebuild his family's house -- as well as his own life. But for Bird, returning to his roots means digging through a mountain of terror, as memories of his father's and grandfather's untimely deaths resurface and drive him to join the manhunt for the killer of yet another mother and child. Though the obvious suspect is Billy Purdue, the violent former husband of the murdered young woman, another player lurks in this disturbing drama, someone entangled in the dark hollow of Bird's past.
Darkly atmospheric, tense and imbued with the page-turning ferocity that only the finest crime fiction offers, Dark Hollow is a stunning successor to Every Dead Thing, a testament to the burgeoning power of John Connolly to tell stories that thrill, frighten and haunt the soul.
Download Description
Parker -- still drained and raw from the murder of his family -- returns to the Maine of his childhood, looking for a chance to recover. But when a young woman, Rita, is savagely killed along with her child, Parker joins the hunt for their murderer. The obvious suspect is Billy Purdue, Rita's estranged husband. But as the death toll mounts, it becomes apparent that someone else is also hunting for Billy Purdue. The answer to the puzzle lies deep in the past: in the troubled history of Parker's own grandfather, in the horror of a tree adorned with victims, and in the violent origins of a killer. Dark Hollow is a masterful second novel from a young Irish writer whose storytelling skills have established him as the strongest new thriller writer since Thomas Harris. Building on the rich imagery, complex plotting, and remarkable characters of Every Dead Thing, Connolly has constructed a tale more menacing and memorable than the last.
Customer Reviews:
a sequel that is as good as the first in a series.......2007-06-08
Those are rare, no? Well, this one is such a book.
Dark Hollow picks up with the story of Charlie "Bird" Parker when he is just shy of the one-year anniversary of the murder of his wife and daughter. He continues to struggle with the loss and the guilt (he was drinking himself into a haze while they were being butchered), and their influence on him is still strong, both guiding him and tormenting him in almost equal measure.
Angel and Louis are strong participants in this one; I'm a huge fan of this strange couple, and I really enjoyed reading so much about them. Angel is given several opportunities to really communicate with Charlie about compassion, loyalty, etc., and that gives the reader more insight into what makes the relationship between these three men so solid.
As in the first novel, this one is heavy on the ugliness. If you don't like any blood spilled in your reading material, avoid this one; it may just give you nightmares. But if you understand that descriptions of such events are essential in a book about a man intimate with the nature of and need for violence, you will understand why these descriptions need be as graphic as they are. Connolly has quite a gift for using words to take his readers on different journeys, and sometimes those journeys aren't pleasant. Some of the ones here are horrific; that said, I think the first novel, Every Dead Thing, was far more graphic, but that's just my memory of it.
(Speaking of Mr. Connolly's use of language, I must say also that he is one of those rare writers who can craft a novel that is not only interesting because of its characters but also literary. He crafts images in the reader's mind that are hard to shake, and he loves to describe the environment in ways that make it truly alive, part of the story just as the characters are.)
The same humor--dry, sarcastic, etc.--is in evidence here as it was in the first novel. Even in his worst moments, Parker and his trusted friends can manage to make me laugh. But the overall story is a tough one. In this novel, Parker is trying to keep quite a few "bombs" from exploding in his face. He is searching for Billy Purdue, trying to figure out who killed Billy's wife and child, attempting to stay out of the way of a Mafioso, trying to find a serial killer who is just as eager to kill Bird as he is to find his long-lost son. So much to handle, so many different balls to juggle. If it weren't for the help of his friends, Bird would be worm food halfway through this novel. It's a good thing he's earned the loyalty of men who would stand by him even if he asked the impossible of them.
Other parts of this novel fascinate. For one, Parker and his old partner Walter Cole interact here, and we finally see some resolution between two men who clearly loved each other before violence became Parker's life in Every Dead Thing. I like the tension between these two. I also like the tension between Parker and the husband of a woman he slept with years before (when she was already married to said husband).
I think you'll really enjoy this one. This is the second time I read it, and I found it even better on the second go-around.
Kudos to Mr. Connolly!
Another Good One.......2007-05-18
I've enjoyed the Charlie Parker series very much. This was another good one. Charlie Parker has trouble staying out of the way of evil people and in Dark Hollow he was right there in the middle again. Page turning good book!
Nice suprise.......2006-02-13
I bought this book in another sellers bargin sales bin. The cover looked intersting and I had hit a place where I had read everything by all of the authors I normally read. I didn't expect much but once I started to read this I was entranced. I loved it. I was so suprised to find out that this was a series and I had started with the 2nd one. John Connolly knows how to tell a tale. It is a mix of detetive stories with elements of the the horror genre I normally read. His charaters are well developed and grow on you and eventually you are rooting for Charlie Parker. This book got me hooked and I have become a big fan. I wait with great anticipation his next release. The best bargin book I have ever bought!!!
Awesome book!.......2006-02-05
Evil seems to follow Charlie "Bird" Parker, or does Charlie follow evil? Even he is beginning to wonder. When you're talking about bad guys, the ones that Charlie deals with are the worst of the worst!
Charlie is dreading the first anniversary of the death of his wife and child. He's trying to keep busy and comes the the aid of a woman who is trying to get child support from her estranged husband, Billy Purdue. Billy gives him some money to give Rita and promises to give her a lot more if she'll only come back to him. Charlie finds it very strange that Billy has that much money. Charlie doesn't give it that much thought, until...
This sets off a chain of events that gets Charlie involved with some very, VERY bad guys. This book has a deep plot that keeps you turning pages and wondering how Charlie is going to get out of this one! Needless to say, the ever-suave Louis and his less-than-suave partner Angel show up just in time to help him. Charlie also gets some help from ghosts, or is he dreaming? I hope the author broadens this premise, I think it really adds a lot to the character. Also, I believe in ghosts and premonitions!
Thanks to Amazon and the comments pages I was able to start this series with the first book, Every Dead Thing, as there are several references to it in this book. I'm looking forward to the next one, The Killing Kind. This is a great series. I mean, how many authors can convince you to love a hit man?
This is the thing..........2006-02-04
The hero of "Every Dead Thing" returns and in much better condition - the ridiculous side tracks that haunted the first book in the Charlie 'Bird' Parker series are gone and the gallery of persons are delightfully described in a truly multidimensional way.
Bird gets thrown into a brutal murder of the known criminal Billy Purdue's wife and child, he quickly discovers that the obvious assumption that Billy himself killed his family is not true. Add to this that our Billy has stolen 1 million from a known crime family, a old evil louring in the woods, a missing girl and you have a thrilling read.
What I especially like about this book is that the author manages to give great insights into the many people used to carry the story, thus you end up understanding anyone from the deadly Louis, the haunted Rachel, the abandoned Billy Purdue and even the monster Celeb Kyle himself. In short a great read.
Books:
- The Third Secret: A Novel of Suspense
- The Unquiet: A Thriller
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope--and How to Find Them
- Wabi
- What Bird Did That?: A Driver's Guide to Some Common Birds of North America
- Where is Coco Going?
- Wild Birds Nest: Poems from the Irish
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Wealth of Nations
- The Pressure Cooker Cookbook Revised
- The Family Jewels: A Guide to Male Genital Play and Torment
- Six Silent Men...Book Three
- Possible Side Effects
- Techniques for Nuclear and Particle Physics Experiments: A How-to Approach
- The Amphibians and Reptiles of New York State: Identification, Natural History, and Conservation
- Edmund Spenser: A Literary Life
- Seeking a Premier Economy: The Economic Effects of British Economic Reforms, 1980-2000
- Blondie: A Biography of Lieutenant-Colonel H G Hasler Dso, Obe, Croix De Guerre, Royal Marines
The Police Cloud
Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth
What Elephant?
Nature - Pale Male
Flotsam (Caldecott Medal Book)
