Synopses & Reviews
Turkey vultures soar on the balmy air, looking for their next stinky feast. These birds dont hunt—they like their food to be already dead, and their eating habits serve a very important ecological role. Vultures are part of natures clean-up crew.
In her signature poetic, energetic style, acclaimed nature writer April Pulley Sayre introduces young readers to the world of the turkey vulture. The gorgeous illustrations by Caldecott Honor-winning artist Steve Jenkins capture these birds in all their surprising majesty. Vulture View is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
Review
"Jenkins's dynamic, brightly colored collages show the birds from different viewpoints and are often quite dramatic, especially the black silhouettes of the animals set against a red sky at sunset. The use of questions in the poetic text will also engage children. . . . A welcome resource." —School Library Journal
"Sayre's text is positively gleeful in its exposure of the previously unacceptable subject matter to a child audience, depicting vultures not as cartoon villains but as a necessary part of nature. Jenkins's textured collages reveal unapologetically ugly vultures against a breathtakingly clean blue sky, almost chortling as they juxtapose lovely blossoms with the decomposing deer carcass." —Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
APRIL PULLEY SAYRE is the award-winning author of more than fifty natural history books for young readers. She and her husband live in South Bend, Indiana.
STEVE JENKINS has illustrated many books, including the Caldecott Honor winner What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? He lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife and frequent collaborator, Robin Page, and their three children.