NonFiction Monday - Parrots Over Puerto Rico

Roth, Susan and Cindy Trumbore. Parrots Over Puerto Rico. New York: Lee & Low Books, 2013. Print.

           

            2014 Sibert Medal book. Americas Award for Children’s and YA Literature.

                         This is the story of the disappearance of Parrots in the Jungles of Puerto Rico and a rescue breeding effort that has brought those numbers back up.

                        Roth begins in second person (You look up) to draw the reader in, but quickly moves to third person omnipotent in order to relate a simplified history of this Caribbean island. She creates tension in this book as she relates how less and less parrots survive, until only thirteen remain in the wild.  

                      This is an unusually shaped book arranged vertically across the double page spread to make the most of the tall trees with birds flying above with the related human actions taking place below.  Roth places the simple text under the pictures. 

                     Of interest to me because my sister participated in this work to reestablish the parrots.