Song for the Whooping Crane (Hardback)

"Spinelli's poetic ode to an endangered crane species is at once respectful and breathless with wonder. The song in this case refers to the "seasonal rhythms" of the once-abundant birds as they progress from southward migration in October, through the hatching season in spring, to the graceful courting dances. Spinelli's poetry is calm and sure...and Warnick's watercolor illustrations are reverent." — Booklist

"A visual and linguistic delight, this celebration of the endangered whooping crane delivers a subtle environmental message. Beginning "in the far North/ when October spills/ across the ice/ and the wind sweeps high," Spinelli traces the flight of the cranes to their southern habitat and back again, detailing the kinds of foods, sounds and activities in which the birds engage. Spinelli infuses the narrative's reverential tone with an infectious sense of wonder: "Come see!/ Step out from dappled doorways,/ leave your dreams." Warnick's deft watercolors balance close-up views of the ice-white cranes with silhouetted figures and striking landscapes. From an aerial view of a town in sleeting rain to the gray shadowed crane asleep in shallow pools, Warnick's serene images are breathtaking. By book's end, as the cranes go "in blossom-scented April... once more to the northern nesting grounds," the reader will join the author in hoping, "may it always be so."" — Publishers Weekly (starred review)