We are starlings : inside the mesmerizing magic of a murmuration /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

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. (May)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 1--4--A stellar narrative nonfiction book about the collective of starlings and their migration. The book opens on a close-up of two starlings; with every spread the number of starlings increases, giving readers the sense and visual depth of the group, which can grow into the thousands and even into the millions. The text poetically describes how the murmuration can be supportive, an alliance, and a defense against predators, while the scenes support this thrillingly. Every digital watercolor lends movement and poignancy to the text. A great read-aloud to share with a group and a great introduction to starlings, Furrow and Napoli's book would make a grand companion to Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre. VERDICT This book answers so many questions about the formations starlings create against the sky without taking away the wonder. It's stunning.--Ruth Guerrier-Pierre

Booklist Review

A restless pair of speckled starlings meets up with a handful of other birds and flies on, gradually combining with other flocks until the pages fill with black dots nearly covering the sky. They have become a murmuration--a term coined from the sound of thousands of flapping birds overhead. The enormous gathering twists and turns, pitch black in the center of the congregation and lighter at the edges. A menacing falcon, overwhelmed by the ever-shifting mass of birds, gives up trying to pinpoint any of the thousands of moving targets. And just like that, the flock drops to the ground to rest and gather strength for their next flight. The poetic text may be light on facts, but it's lovely in its lyricism. Stunning multimedia drawings glow on the page, saturated in the colors of sunrise and sunset. There is an exquisite sense of movement and scale as the dazzling murmurations seem to dance across the spreads. A gorgeous introduction to a natural wonder.

Horn Book Review

Starlings are social birds, at times flying in groups so large that their wings create a murmuring sound that can be heard by humans on the ground. A honed text and stunning watercolor, pencil, and digital collage illustrations work together to give readers a sense of this phenomenon. "There are hundreds of us! / There are thousands of us! / There are millions of us!" Furrow brings his background as a scientist and Napoli her wide experience writing for children to this collaboration that has both the rhythm of poetry and simple but accurate information: "We find strength and safety in numbers. / We find warmth in numbers." Starlings fill and overflow the pages, swooping in gorgeous waves across the double-page spreads as the birds escape from a hungry falcon or land en masse in a field. The colors of the mixed-media illustrations bleed and blend together. The edges of each bird's wings are indistinct, smudging and overlapping as the mass travels together across the reds, oranges, and pinks of the sky. A striking gatefold gives a sense of the massive scale of a murmuration. An endnote gives readers additional information about starling behavior. Pair with Scanlon and Preston-Gannon's One Dark Bird (rev. 7/19). (c) Copyright 2024. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

Discover the magic of a murmuration of starlings. Just two starlings open the book one morning. They are chilly and restless, taking off and joining other starlings. Flying for days, the flock continues to grow as Martin's illustrations get more and more crowded: hundreds, thousands, millions. They have become a murmuration of starlings, seeking warmth and safety in their huge numbers. Each bird in the flock has allies--those birds flying closest to them--and by paying attention to only their allies, the birds can fly in complex patterns and avoid predators without flying into each other. As sunset nears, the starlings twist and dance in the sky, making ribbons and snakes. And then, all at once, they land to feed and roost. The backmatter offers more info about starlings, but it's incomplete, lacking a map or any description of habitat. Martin tinges his watercolor, pencil, and digital collage illustrations with the oranges, pinks, yellows, and reds of the setting sun, but this makes the timeline confusing since the birds take off in the morning, fly for days, and roost at sunset. He does, however, provide a marvelous sense of scale, placing tiny humans under the flock and showing an enormous ribbon of birds above what in real life are huge windmills. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A good introduction to starling murmurations, though readers will need to fill in the gaps. (Informational picture book. 3-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Donna Jo Napoli was born on February 28, 1948. She received a B.A. in mathematics, an M.A. in Italian literature, and a Ph.D. in general and romance linguistics from Harvard University. She has taught on the university level since 1970, is widely published in scholarly journals, and has received numerous grants and fellowships in the area of linguistics.

In the area of linguistics, she has authored five books, co-authored six books, edited one book, and co-edited five books. She is also a published poet and co-editor of four volumes of poetry. Her first middle grade novel, Soccer Shock, was published in 1991. Her other novels include the Zel, Beast, The Wager, Lights on the Nile, Skin, Storm, Hidden, and Dark Shimmer. She is also the author of several picture books including Flamingo Dream, The Wishing Club: A Story About Fractions, Corkscrew Counts: A Story About Multiplication, The Crossing, A Single Pearl, and Hands and Hearts. She has received several awards including the New Jersey Reading Association's M. Jerry Weiss Book Award for The Prince of the Pond and the Golden Kite Award for Stones in Water.

(Bowker Author Biography)