Can you judge a bird by its feathers?

There are good birds and bad birds.

Bad birds are ugly and dirty and steal your French fries.

Good birds are pretty and colorful. They mate for life and waggle their tail feathers.

… Right?

But what if the bad birds sing sweet songs of love? And the good birds bicker and fight?

Bad Birds asks young readers if judgments about other creatures — good or bad — could be misguided, even harmful to the planet we share. Maybe it’s time to stop thinking of creatures as good or bad, and focus instead on finding ways that we can thrive together.

This playful picture book, populated by quirky and hilarious birds from illustrator Sandra Dumais, is balanced by a subtle message about human impact on animal habitats. It offers children an opportunity to ponder how the way we treat other creatures has parallels in the way we treat other humans. The text is accompanied by an author’s note explaining the concept of “wildlife acceptance capacity,” an illustrated guide to the birds in the book, and a list of ways that kids can take action to protect birds and their communities.

Key Text Features

Illustrations

author’s note

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4

Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.6

With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7

With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.1

Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.2

Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.7

Use illustrations and details in a story to describe its characters, setting, or events.