Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons by Laura Purdie Salas and Alexandria Neonakis - ESSENTIAL

Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Alexandria Neonakis. PICTURE BOOK, NON-FICTION Lerner Publishing. 2023. $21. 9781728442990

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3), EL - ESSENTIAL 

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH 

The father and mother loon are caring for two eggs, waiting for their baby chicks to hatch in late spring. One day, upon return to the nest, shells are scattered and the chicks are not there. The parents look for their young, finding a baby chick bobbing on the water, and begin to care for it, a family is formed. The chick grows and matures, learning loon ways as well as the ways inbred in the chick. As winter approaches, the family is gone, no one knows if they left together and will return back together.

Finding Family is a true non-fiction story about a loon family in Wisconsin. The illustrations are so realistic and well done, children will study them over and over. The text is informational and flows well, almost like a poem, and coordinates well with the illustrations. Finding Family is a book students will read over and over and recommend to friends. It can be used to help teach students about migration, fowl parenting patterns, and life cycles for both species. The information at the end of the book is interesting and suggests further reading. A must-have book.

Deanna M. - Elementary Media Tech.