Charles

PreS-Gr 2-A child finds a baby crow in the woods and cares for him until he's able to survive the wild. When the narrator of the story, a young girl, first finds Charles, he is nearly bald and looking out at the world with curious and clever blue eyes. She brings him home, feeds him, keeps him warm, and soon the two are traipsing through their home and the surrounding forest. As Charles grows he begins to fly further and further away, and the girl's parents remind her that he'll soon return to his home in the woods. The young girl is heartbroken when he finally does leave, but the gift that Charles brings her one moonlit night proves that even though he is at home in the woods he will never forget his young caretaker. The watercolor and gouache illustrations cover each forest spread with detailed, intricately patterned plant and animal life, and the forest is beautiful and inviting. Charles, when readers first meet him, is scrawny and more skin than feathers and the illustrator takes time to follow his transformation from an ungainly nestling to graceful adult crow. The prose is as pragmatic as the young narrator but still leaves room for the slightly magical conclusion. VERDICT A straightforward but deeply felt and beautifully realized story, perfect for sharing one-on-one or reading aloud with a small group. Highly recommended. -Laken Hottle, Providence Community Library © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A young child rescues a baby crow and cares for him until he flies away. Writing in the voice of the unnamed narrator, Hume delivers a tender story about raising an abandoned baby crow. The narrator lives in a home surrounded by the natural world, brought to lush life by Bartram's enchanting, accurate illustrations (baby crows do have blue eyes), which are done in a rich, nature-hued palette and feature simple shapes decorated with patterns found in nature--such as the spores on fern fronds. The shapes and patterns against the white space of the page thoughtfully integrate the story's theme by bringing attention to nature's inherent order and harmony. The child, walking in the woods, finds a nearly featherless baby crow and brings him home after it is apparent he has been abandoned. Naming him "Charles" for the sounds he makes, they feed him cereal with strawberries, which he likes. As Charles grows, he begins to fly--first to the large pine tree and then off altogether, leaving the narrator forlorn. Then, on a full-moon night days later, a crow taps at the child's window and leaves a strawberry. The child has pale skin and long, black hair, just like their mother.Quiet words combine with accurate, well-designed illustrations to create a full, lush picture book about caring and being close to nature. (Picture book. 3-7)