Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World's Strangest Parrot

Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot

Montgomery, Sy & Bishop, Nic. Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010. ISBN 9780618494170

Summary:

Have you ever heard of a parrot that cannot fly, growls like a dog, comes out at night, smells of honey, and is the heaviest of its species? Well, Codfish Island in New Zealand is home to the world’s strangest parrot known as the kakapo (KAR-ka-poe). The kakapo get’s its name from the Maori language – kaka meaning parrot and po meaning night. It’s a beautiful, yet highly endangered parrot of the night. Currently, there are less than one hundred kakapo* alive. Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot tells the story of this amazing parrot, while following the inquiry, investigation, research, and time spent learning about and trying to save this rare and vanishing bird.

*There is no s added in the Maori language for plurals (p. 3).

Analysis:

Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop’s photo essay of the kakapo, which is also part of the “Scientists in the Field” series, will fascinate readers. Once I picked up the book, I couldn’t put it down. The photo essay is arranged so that the reader can follow the story of the researchers chronologically through their investigation or so that a reader can go to a particular chapter to learn more about a specific topic. The index is also a helpful tool when looking for specific information.

The great appeal to this book initially comes from Bishop’s captivating photos that not only capture the kakapo in its natural habitat but also follow the researchers on their journey and investigation of the world’s strangest parrot - the kakapo. First, you are immediately grabbed by the up close photograph on the cover of the endearing face of a kakapo. The colors are vivid and vibrant, and each photograph allows for beautiful detail that might not be captured through another media. Each two-page spread typically contains at least two to four photographs. In many cases, one photograph fills an entire side of the two-page spread in order to allow the reader to be fully submerged in the topic. Through their words and images, Montgomery and Bishop have the ability to make the reader feel as though they are right there alongside the researchers – helping, watching, touching, and interacting with the kakapo parrots. This is a beautiful photo essay that will captivate many readers – young or old!

Awards and Review Excerpts:

- 2011 Robert F. Sibert Medal Winner

- Kirkus Reviews Best Books for Children 2010

- Horn Book Magazine’s Fanfare – Best Nonfiction – 2010

From Booklist, starred review: "Montgomery’s delight in her subject is contagious, and throughout her enthusiastic text, she nimbly blends scientific and historical facts with immediate, sensory descriptions of fieldwork. Young readers will be fascinated."

From School Library Journal, starred review: “Readers who enjoyed this author/photographer team’s The Tarantula Scientist (2007) or Quest for the Tree Kangaroo (2006, both Houghton) will gobble up this tribute to ecological science in action."

From The Bulletin: "More than most books about environmentalism or endangered species, this will encourage kids to consider how hands-on action can genuinely make a difference and how scientific contributions can be made by people who never go near a test tube."

Connections:

Collect and share other photo essays by Sy Montgomery, such as:

- The Tarantula Scientist ISBN 9780618915774

- The Octopus Scientists ISBN 9780544232709

- The Tapir Scientist: Saving South American’s Largest Mammal ISBN 9780547815480

- The Snake Scientist ISBN 9780618111190

- Quest for the Tree Kangaroo: An Expedition to the Cloud Forest in New Guinea ISBN

  9780547248929

Collect and share other books about highly endangered animals. Discuss the importance of the researchers/scientists. If you have access to a researcher/scientist, you might want to invite him/her to share with the students the importance of his/her work.

- Vanishing Act: Endangered Animals and Disappearing Environments by Art Wolfe ISBN

  9781937359669

- Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the 

  Brink by Jane Goodall ISBN 9780446581783

Allow students to research an animal of their choice and create a photo essay inspired by Sy Montgomery. If available, allow students to learn more about photography and try to capture their own images through a lens.

Learn more about Sy Montgomery at her website: http://symontgomery.com

Using Sy Montgomery’s website, utilize some of her lesson ideas for Kakapo Rescue at http://symontgomery.com/video/. There she shares a web of ideas for lessons - http://www.symontgomery.com/wp-content/downloads/WebOfIdeas.pdf and also provides many great handouts.

*Image borrowed from www.barnesandnoble.com

Let’s hear it for the birds! Growl!

~ Mandy