The Race to Save the Lord God Bird by Phillip Hoose (3 BK)

Hoose, Phillip. (2004). The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. New York: Melanie Kroupa
Books Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Grade Level:
I would recommend this book for students in grades 4-8.

Author Credibility:
Hoose is a member of the Nature Conservancy as well as the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, and the American Birding Association. He provides a detailed description of where he obtained his information in the Sources and Acknowledgements sections of this book. In sources he describes his sources chapter by chapter. This book has received the Boston-Horn Book award.

Summary:
This book chronicles the life of the species the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Hoose begins by telling the reader in the introduction that extinction of a species is nothing new. Mass extinctions have happened before in 5 big waves. But the 6th wave, the one we are in now, is different because it is caused by humans. Hoose then introduces the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Alexander Wilson had set out to paint every bird species in the United States. Along his journey he encounters an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. He shoots the first two he sees and stuffs them so he can paint them later. But, the third he encounters is only wounded by the shot. He catches it and takes it back to his hotel room to paint. Wilson is able to paint several of the first paintings of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker from this bird.
As the book progresses the author tells of an experience he had to handle an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker specimen. From this experience the author tells the reader how he researched this bird. Many important facts are given about the bird in this first chapter. The next step in the chapter of the life of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker species comes in the form of John James Audubon. Audubon like Wilson set out to paint the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Hoose gives you the highlights of Audubon’s life and what he accomplished.
Next, in chapter 3, the story shifts to the lumber industry. After the Civil War much of the trees in the Northern United States was being cut. The next step for the lumber companies was the South and the home of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Hoose described in great detail this industry and why they flocked to the South. Another problem the birds of the United States and the world faced was the plume. The plume was a popular style for a long time. Many birds were slaughtered for their feathers so they could be put into womens’ hats. Hoose describes the war that resulted over plumes. Some were even killed for trying to protect the birds from hunters.
Arthur Allen and Jim Tanner are two important people that studied the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Allen took the first photograph of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Both Allen and Tanner worked together to capture the calls of an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker on tape (this is the only recording of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker). Tanner would spend three years of his life studying the bird. At the end of this three years he presented a action plan to the Adubon Society to save the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. At the center of this plan was preserving the Singer Tract (the only place he actually saw an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in his three years of study). In his research Tanner learned that the bird needed a large natural forest in order to survive. He reccomended preserving the habitat that they were living in. The only problem with this was the lumber companies would rather have money than the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. They continued to cut the forest down. Despite many advances and work to save the forest it is continually cut down, until the last known Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in the forest’s home is destroyed. Hope still lived though for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker as the bird is found in Cuba. Hoose takes you on a journey through Cuba as researchers search for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.
The story ends with a sense of hope. Hoose tells the reader of many “sightings” of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. These sightings have never been authenicated though, not for a lack of trying. Many scientists and bird watchers today are still looking for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. They refuse to give up hope on this magnificent bird.

Standards:
Science: Life Science

Illustrations:
The illustrations in this book consist of black and white photographs and drawings/paintings. Many of the first drawings and photographs of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker are included. The photographs and drawings/paintings correspond with the text.

Access Features:
*Table of Contents
*Index
*Sidebars
*Introduction
*Maps
*Emportant Dates for the Protection of Birds…
*Glossary
*Sources/Acknowledgements/ Picture Credits

How I would use the book in the classroom:
This book would be good to use when studying conservation. This book does a great job describing the need for conservation for animals. It also shows what will happen when humans ignore what they know about animal habitats. This book could also be used when discussing animals and their habitats.

My response to the book:
I enjoyed reading this book. I had never heard of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker before reading this book. I found myself wishing I had the opportunity to see one of these birds in person. Hoose did an amazing job describing the bird. He showed the passion so many people had for this bird. That passion added a certain element of interest to the book for me. The sidebars in this book added other tidbits of information that the reader might find interesting. I enjoyed reading these.

Related Texts:
*The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker by Tim Gallagher
*In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker by Jerome A. Jackson
*The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker by James T. Tanner

Other:
There are 163 pages in this chapter book. The background on the cover of the book is a map of the region the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker once lived. Also on the cover is a picture of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. The beak of this woodpecker points toward the opening of the book, drawing the reader into the book. The end pages are photographs of the bird flying through the forest. The writing is conversational and easy to read. Hoose takes the reader through the process he went through while researching the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.