• Rating: 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
• Publisher: Meadowlark Press LLC (2021)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 32 pages
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7362232-3-9 (hardcover)
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7362232-4-6 (Paperback)
• Reading age: Middle School and above

Ava: A Year of Adventure in the Life of an American Avocet, written by Mandy Kern and illustrated by Onalee Nicklin, is a beautifully written book about the life style of the American Avocet and the wetland ecosystems it needs for survival.

We meet Ava in the Laguna Madre, a huge lagoon that stretches over the shoreline of Texas and Mexico where she has spent her first winter. This lagoon is saltier than the ocean and is home to many kinds of wildlife and shorebirds. Ava must soon begin a tough migration flying great distances to find wetlands until she arrives at her destination in Cheyenne Bottoms, a 41,000 acre freshwater marsh in the middle of Kansas. Ava finds a mate and make their nest on the shore where they stay until time to migrate back to the Laguna Madre.

The reader will learn much about the environment of both ecosystems and how Ava meets the challenges she and her mate face. The story includes information about the food chain, other birds that share the ecosystems, as well as predators that threaten their young. It also emphasizes the importance of wetlands and of the internationally protected wetland preserves to guarantee their continued survival.

The story line with Ava adds appeal for all ages. Many vocabulary words are written in all caps and are defined in a two-page glossary at the back of the book.

Ava: A Year of Adventure in the Life of an American Avocet would make a great addition to school libraries from elementary through high school as well as in nature centers everywhere. It would also make a great coffee table book as it would hold the attention of people of all ages. The illustrations are wonderful and would capture the attention of younger children as they listened to an adult read it to them.

I give Ava: A Year of Adventure in the Life of an American Avocet 5 smiles out of five. I received a PDF review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review written by Janice D. Green

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