In the 19th century, the “side hunt” was a Christmas tradition. Hunters would vie to amass the largest pile of carcasses. Frank Chapman of the Audubon Society suggested replacing the side hunt with a Christmas day bird count. Today, all over the country, people record the birds they see on Christmas day, and scientists use the information gathered to understand migration, climate patterns, and to assess the health of bird populations.

I learned all that from the back matter of  Finding a Dove for Gramps. The book itself is fiction, and it gives a kids-eye view of the Christmas bird count. We see the narrator and his mother tramp through snow, checklist in hand, identifying the birds that they notice.

The language is lively. It’s a pleasure to read aloud:

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!

A red-bellied woodpecker hammers a drumroll at the top of a dead oak tree.

I loved all the sensory descriptions in the book. They make the child’s experience vivid:

The spicy smell of pine makes my nose tingle. I walk lightly so I won’t scare the birds, snow crunching ever-so-softly underfoot.

The color palette in the book is appropriately wintry and each bird gets loving treatment.

The back matter includes, in addition to the fascinating historical information, advice about how to participate in the Christmas Day bird count and a bird checklist.

This book will be a great companion to Heidi Stemple’s new picture book biography of Frank Chapman, Counting Birds, and Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple’s new book about bird identification, Crow, Not Crow. Finding a Dove for Gramps gives kids the chance to imagine what it would mean like for them to participate.

Finding a Dove for Gramps by Lisa J. Amstutz, illustrated by Maria Luisa DiGravio. (Albert Whitman: 2018

Alyson Beecher hosts the Nonfiction Picture Book Challenge at kidlitfrenzy.com. Visit there for more great nonfiction picture books!