Parents' Guide to

Vulture View

By Patricia Tauzer, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 4+

Rhyme and collage give vultures a new look.

Book April Pully Sayre Animals 2007
Vulture View Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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What's the Story?

As the air warms, vultures lift from their perches and ride the thermals in search of food. After finishing off a carcass or two, they clean themselves and head back to the family tree where they await the next dawn.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

You rarely hear the words "cute" and "vulture" in the same sentence, but in describing this book, you just might. With cut-paper collage, illustrator Steve Jenkins has made these amazing birds look friendly, and beautiful. And, April Pulley Sayre tells their story in language that is kid-like, and friendly too. Beginning readers especially will enjoy the rhyming phrases that both follow the birds throughout their day and provide a simple, scientific introduction to this unusual topic.

With shadowed vultures perched in a craggy tree against the blood-red sky, the cover of VULTURE VIEW looks a bit ominous. However, the eye in the featherless face of the one vulture hovering overhead almost seems to smile. And that should convince any reader to look inside to see the world from the viewpoint of this amazing bird. By the end, they may even be convinced to look further, and notes at the end pointing to Web sites and even turkey vulture festivals will show them how.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about vultures, of course, and watch them soar in the skies. What do they look like? Why do you think their heads don't have any feathers? How big do you think their wings are? Why is the temperature of the air important to how they soar, and fly? What would happen if there were no vultures on earth? What part do they play in the circle of life?

Book Details

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