The artful bird Feathered friends to make + sew

*Starred Review* Bird jokes don't fly here. Ignoring the slew of impossible puns, first-time author and former middle-school teacher Glassenberg develops one smashing crafts book that will be very difficult to best. It's about soft sculptures, 16 in all, of different birds, some lifelike, others deliberately fantastic. Though needed materials could simply be a sewing machine and random bits of fabric and thread, the gull, owl, penguin, and others require more than an eye on the presser foot and understanding embroidery. At its purest, each piece demands well-honed crafting capacities, including a good grasp of textile and color combinations, knowledge of quilting and other decorative stitchery, and the fundamentals of 3-D stitching and form development. Glassenberg begins with a level playing field, educating readers on the necessities of materials and tools, then moves to a detailed pictorial explanation of bird making and, finally, the projects. At the end are conversations with and the works of four bird artists, all of whom concentrate on soft sculpture. If the project subjects aren't necessarily anatomically correct, they are all, whether a vintage-fabric-encrusted flamingo or a harsh black-on-black-on-black crow, eminently collectible.--Jacobs, Barbara Copyright 2010 Booklist