Crow Call: 11/27/10

Lois Lowry has a new book published frequently enough that many of her online bibliographies aren't up to date. Wikipedia lists the most current books (that I am aware of) but I'm not saying it's a comprehensive list either.

Lately it seems that Lowry has been drawing more and more from her own life for her books. It could be that she has always done this but I am most familiar with the books she's written in the last decade.

Lowry's first picture book, Crow Call<, draws from her experience as child going on a hunting trip with her father. He had recently returned from fighting in the Second World War and took her out to hunt crows as a way to reconnect.

Now the book isn't specifically autobiography. The girl in the book is named Liz, not Lois and the time period isn't specifically named. Bagram Ibatoulline's Andrew Wyeth inspired paintings though help point at a late 1940s time frame.

The story beyond being about a father and daughter reconnecting is about respecting nature. They go hunting for crows who have been going after the crops. Liz's job will be to use the crow call to call the birds to where her father can shoot them. She's excited to be out with her father but nervous and a little sad about being part of this killing. Over the course of the book through questions and answers Liz and her father come to an understanding for the benefit of the crows.

I read the book aloud to both my children, though I mostly checked the book out for myself. The hunting aspect of the book was a good teaching moment. We live on the border between an urban and a rural area. We have farms and wildlife that we pass on the way to school every morning. That wildlife includes crows and ravens but here they aren't seen as a threat to the crops so hunting crows was a completely alien concept to my children. They also liked how things turned out for the best and seeing the photograph at the end of the book of a young Lois dressed like Liz in the book.

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Sunday, November, 28, 2010 at 10:04:04

Becky

I didn't know she had a new one out! This is great, thanks for the info!

Comment #2: Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 21:31:00

Pussreboots

You're welcome. She has so many books coming out that it's hard to keep up with her sometimes.

Comment #3: Tuesday, November, 30, 2010 at 19:44:21

Callista

I reviewed this book too back in January.

I'm going to link to you.

Comment #4: Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 21:34:49

Pussreboots

Thank you for the link.