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Book Review: A Rainbow of Birds

Category: Academic Wings
Author: Janet Halfmann www.janethalfmann.com
Artist: Jack Foster jacktoon.blogspot.com
Print ISBN: 9781616334628; 1616334622
eBook ISBN: 9781616334635; 1616334630

Birds have their legends just like people do, and baby birds love to hear the stories. Papa Cardinal, whose job it is to pass down bird ways to his chicks, tells them the story of how birds gave the world the rainbow. It’s a tale of fun and squabbles and magic!

Thoughts: I'm lucky to know both the author and illustrator of this cute picture book. Both Halfmann and Foster have sent me work when Stories for Children Magazine was publishing issues every month. I always enjoyed their creative minds and the work they did. Now to see them working together to create this book...it only makes the perfect match of creative minds.

I really enjoyed reading this book with my two girls. My oldest already knew the colors of the rainbow and how they form, but she really liked the idea of this myth. My youngest is just learning the rainbow colors and really like the myth behind how rainbows came to be. It was fun talking with them both about rainbows and doing the activities found at the back of the book. A very nice addition for teachers and homeschoolers.

The only thing that popped out at me about this book is Halfmann uses the age old ROY-G-BIV to teach the colors of the rainbow. I learned this as well in school, however, in the past few years since my oldest (Dominic) they have dropped Indigo from the rainbow list of colors. None the less, this is still a cute picture book and one entertains and teaches young minds about the world around them.

About the Author:
Janet Halfmann (http://www.janethalfmann.com) is an award-winning children's author who strives to make her books come alive for young readers and listeners. Many of her picture books are about animals and nature. She also writes picture book biographies about little-known people of achievement.

Recent titles by Janet include A Rainbow of Birds; Eggs 1, 2,3: Who Will the Babies Be?; Home in the Cave; Star of the Sea: A Day in the Life of a Starfish; Good Night, Little Sea Otter; and Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story. Janet has written thirty-five fiction and nonfiction books for children.

Here are links to the book’s pages and the publisher's websites:
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