The Robins in Your Backyard by Nancy Carol Willis (1996) is the kind of nonfiction picture book perfect for young readers. It comes with back matter about “How to Help a Baby Songbird” and a glossary. The author was a volunteer for Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, Inc. Her lovely illustrations have a softness that evokes a warm, fuzzy feeling. I need this velvety style for the pictures of an embryo and featherless hatchlings with bulging purplish eyes. I love the robins in this book. They are close up and rendered as I remember them.
It's a glorious privilege to have a backyard and to have robins visit. I watched a robin nest right outside my window one year. The eggs were tiny, blue ovals. The baby birds were magical. Mother and papa robin worked tirelessly to feed them. This spring, a robin repeatedly flew from a nearby evergreen into one of my windows. Why? Did it see its reflection? Did it want to investigate the palm that grows just inside that window?
This book could only improve if we could hear the birdsong that robins bring with them.
