Speaking of birds yesterday, I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone (given some of my art as well) that I have a particular fondness for wild birds (and watching them come to our porch feeder). Today’s collection of poetry focuses on the lifecycle of one particular bird: robins (that wonderful harbinger of spring).

“A Round of Robins” is a collection of poems by Katie Hesterman (and this is her debut picture book!).  She has also published poetry in children’s magazines like Ladybug.  The illustrations are all done by Sergio Ruzzier whose work I fell in love with a few years ago in “This is Not a Picture Book!” (as well as a SCBWI bulletin cover illustration).  The pairing of these two is brilliant.  I don’t think anyone could have asked for a better combination of words and pictures for this particular project, as the tone in both matches so perfectly.

It is a fun, light-hearted look at the entire life cycle of a robin family.  It all starts with dad robin defending his territory:

and follows a set of eggs and their life cycle from birth to leaving home.  While the above picture might be one of my favorite poems, I think the following is my favorite illustration.  Both really capture the essence of this book and I had to share TWO poems today to really help you, my dear readers, get a feel for what this book is like.  I hope you will take the time to track the book down and give the whole thing a read.