“Feathers can be warm like a blanket…..or cushion like a pillow.”Ms. Stewart’s simple text explains how sixteen birds from around the world use their feathers from the commonly known purposes of feathers to the unusual, “….. sprinting across the snow like snowshoes”. Her selections are common birds, such as jays that we might see in our backyards, to unfamiliar birds, like Pallas’s sandgrouse found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The interesting text is greatly enhanced by the detailed life size watercolor illustrations of Sarah Brannen.
Melissa Stewart has written over 100 nonfiction books. Feathers Not Just for Flying is a Literary Guild Selection and received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly.
An obvious choice for the reading comprehension Best Practice to accompany this informational book is Asking Questions Before You Read.The brain comprehends best when it has a single focus. During the First Reading as you study just the paintings that accompany each heading, you’ll find both yourself and your listener asking, “How are the feathers able to do that?”During the Second Reading, your questions will be answered in the text boxes accompanying each type of feather. If you are sharing this book with younger readers, you may choose to omit the information in the text boxes. For the younger listener, reading the heading, which is a simple sentence comparing the unique function of the feathers to a common object, helps the young listener to understand. Then, discuss the bird shown, and infer how the bird’s feather might perform each job.
After reading this informative book, your listener or you might start thinking about multiple uses of other objects in nature, building observation and classifying skills from this enjoyable activity.