[.ca] Flute's Journey: The Life of a Wood Thrush (ISBN 0152928537)

This book is soooo good!:
It tells how hard the life of birds can be. I especially liked how it told about the cowbird who came and took one egg away because that tells the way cowbirds are. I liked how the children gaves names to the woodthrushes.

Inside information from author Lynne Cherry:
When I began writing Flute's Journey, I was going to put Flute in the woods at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center where I was then artist-in-residence. However, an ornithologist friend said, "put Flute in the Belt Woods!" "What's the Belt woods?" I asked. She told me it was a forest that had been owned by Seton Belt and he had willed it to a church if they agreed to never cut the trees or sell the land. But after he died, the church had the will overturned and put the land up for sale to a developer for $9 million. It's a long story, but many children wrote letters to the bishop of the church asking that they respect Seton Belt's wishes and save the land. And, I'm convinced, that it was their letters that saved Flute's home, the Belt woods. Their letters, like the following one, came from the heart: "Seton Belt trusted you. How can you go against him?" Our campaign to save the woods was covered by CBS Morning News with Charles Osgood and they mentioned Flute's Journey and the children's letters. They asked me what kids could do. I said, "they can write to the church." And so many more letters were sent. Now Belt Woods is preserved forever. Children helped to save Flute's home and children, in many ways, can make a difference in the world. Lynne Cherry

Every child and even most adults should read this book:
This is a beautiful book! It provides ecological information that a child can understand. It has a strong message and is entertaining as well as educational. It has beatiful watercolor paintings and a compelling storyline. Enjoyable for parents and children.