Condor's Egg - Hardcover

London, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0811802604 ISBN 13: 9780811802604

Publisher: Chronicle Books Llc, 1994

Synopsis

Detailed, realistic paintings complement the story of a family of California Condors and their struggle to survive while their habitat is being destroyed, told in a carefully researched text accompanied by information on helping preserve the Condor. IP.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 3-A brief tale that explains how two California condors successfully hatch an egg in spite of a raging thunderstorm that threatens its security. Information on the environmental pressures that brought the animal to the brink of extinction is included in a few paragraphs that follow the narrative. London's style borders on the poetic, which suits the grandeur of his subject, the largest and rarest bird in North America. The book concludes with a list of six places to write for further information about California condors. Chaffee's watercolor and pen-and-ink illustrations highlight the action; they feature many visually arresting scenes and closeups of the bald, red-headed condor parents and their scraggly chick. The drama inherent in the emergence and survival of the young guarantees that this story will hold the interest of young children; older readers who understand the plight of the species will appreciate the book on a deeper level. A valuable addition for libraries of any size.
Ellen Fader, Oregon State Library, Salem
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

This eminently approachable book gives eloquent testament to the first pair of California condors to return to the wild since 1987, when the threat of extinction prompted conservators to bring the last of these birds into captivity. A spare, tightly constructed story-the fate of a single, watched-over egg amid a terrifying thunderstorm-gains breadth through London's (Liplap's Wish, reviewed above) use of repeated images and his dramatic pacing. The egg-shaped lake nestled among the mountains presages the condors' own egg; the ominous branches of lightning appear again in the crack of the egg's shell: "Is this the end-or the beginning-of a new life?" Descriptive verse captures the essence of the condor: "Companion of the sun and wind,/ friend of the wild mountain silence." By following the text carefully and literally, Chaffee's pictures support rather than embellish or divert from London's poetry. Readers at the upper end of the target group will be hungry for the "More About Condors" supplement at the end. Ages 4-10.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chronicle Books Llc
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0811802604
• ISBN 13: 9780811802604
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Chaffee James