RIVERBY AWARD WINNER!
On May 14th, 2022, International Bird Migration Day, the picture book I spent most of 2021 working on was published! This inspiring story by ornithologist and Pulitzer finalist Scott Weidensaul describes the challenges of a tiny yellow warbler as she makes her perilous migration from Central America to the Canadian tundra. It has been a long and eye-opening effort to create 17 large and 3 small oil paintings for this project. I've learned a lot about bird migration, working with Scott to be sure the presentation of the flora and fauna are scientifically correct. This is my sixth book with The Gryphon Press.
All the original oil paintings were exhibited at the Olewine Gallery at the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Millersburg, PA during the summer of 2022.
In April 2023, the book was awarded the prestigious Riverby Award by the John Burroughs Association, recognizing "excellence in natural history picture books for young readers". Our attention to detail and accuracy in both words and art paid off!
Then in April 2024, the book was awarded the Skipping Stones Honor Award for "fine children's books and teaching resources that promote multicultural awareness and appreciation of nature". Skipping Stones is a nonprofit, international magazine for ages 8–17 in its 36th year of publication. The honored titles were selected with the help of a jury of diverse reviewers—librarians, parents, students, teachers, and editors of Skipping Stones.
"Weidensaul's poetic and inspirational language gracefully draws the reader into the warbler's amazing journey. Nancy Lane's vivid oil paintings joyfully illuminate the text."
— Phillip Hoose, author of The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
“With its engaging story and richly detailed illustrations of one yellow warbler’s epic spring migration, this book is sure to inspire and inform readers of all ages.”
-- David Sibley, author of What It's Like to Be a Bird, The Sibley Guide to Birds
"In his first book for children, wildlife researcher and Pulitzer finalist Weidensaul describes the epic flight of a yellow warbler making its spring migration from Nicaragua to Canada’s Northwest Territories. His evocative language puts the reader in the warbler’s shoes, so to speak, bringing to life the twitchy instinct she feels to embark on an epic journey. First she bulks up, eating caterpillars and berries, and then her flight begins. Lane’s marvelously detailed paintings fill three quarters of every double-page spread, where one white strip is reserved for the text. The soft, light-dappled scenes are awash with color and convey the scale of the tiny bird’s trip through the much larger world. Readers will delight in finding the small, yellow bird in every illustration, whether it’s amid the branches of a shaded coffee farm, above a moonlit ocean, or resting in a backyard garden. There is also a lovely incorporation of racial diversity in the few instances where people appear: Nicaraguan farmers, a Black grandmother and grandson, and a Lutsël K’é Dene First Nation family. The appended spread titled “Easy Ways for Everyone to Help Warblers (and All Migrating Birds)” provides extra details about the yellow warbler’s migratory route, followed by bulleted tips on keeping migratory birds safe and healthy. An awesome account of an awe-inspiring feat."
— Julia Smith, Booklist
"This painterly picture book traces the migration of a single yellow warbler, 'the color of a ripe lemon,' from the tropical forests of Nicaragua to the far reaches of subarctic Canada, offering glimpses of three children who spot it along the way. Lane’s naturalistic art visualizes the journey over land and sea as the fowl flies through the night among other migrating birds. In Nicaragua, a brown-skinned grandfather tells a grandchild that people call the bird reinita amarilla: 'They eat the insects that hurt our coffee trees,' Weidensaul writes. In Florida, a Black elder introduces the bird as a yellow warbler: “She must have just arrived, flying all the way from Mexico across the ocean. Imagine that!” And in the Northwest Territories (per back matter), an Indigenous child who encounters the bird knows another word for her: iyesaze. It’s a lushly wrought look at knowledge both intergenerational and regional—and how that knowledge connects people across time and place. Back matter offers suggestions for helping migratory birds." Ages 5–8.
-- Publisher's Weekly
"A spectacularly illustrated, factually accurate story of a tiny yellow warbler's migration journey as she flies thousands of miles to reach her mate. In her dazzling oil paintings, Nancy Lane creates stunning landscapes and people that illuminate Pulitzer-prize finalist Scott Weidensaul's poetic and detailed description of the warbler's perilous journey from the tropics of Central America to the Canadian tundra. Together, they engage the reader's interest in a story that conveys a deep sense of the wonder and the danger of the migration journey.
Children will also discover how they can help birds like our yellow warbler by seeing how three different children and families help her along the way: a Nicaraguan family who know the bird as reinita amarilla and whose traditional shade coffee farm sustains migrant birds, an African-American family that creates a garden in their backyard on the gulf coast to provide food for migrating birds, and a family from The Lutsel K' Dene First Nation in Canada who have preserved land for all animals."
--Powell's Bookstore, Portland, Oregon
