Beautiful colours and very informative in anatomy and migration.
Pages are often broken up nicely into sections for easy information consumption which is fantastic for children.
The illustrations are fantastic and very informative.

Initially my children (7yrs and 4yrs) were engaged and asked questions. With a revision I could see this being a good resource for schools or like us, homeschool.

Unfortunately being a New Zealander growing up being surrounded with the beautiful Māori language and myths I found page 16 & 17 to be disrespectful, predominately for the lack of macrons. I would not recommend this book to anyone who wants an accurate representation of Kiwi, Pūkeko, Pīpīwharauroa (Shining Cuckoo) or the myth involving Tāne-Mahuta. If you can write out how to pronounce Tāne-Mahuta's name then you can certainly add the macrons. Its what makes the language.
Sadly the story misses the main aspect of the myth where Kiwi goes through a great sacrifice of losing his rainbow feathers- one both my children were devastated to see was missing and they lost interest, refusing to read the rest of the book.

If these issues were fixed and the other pages depicting stories from other cultures were fact checked then it would have been a 4.5-5 star read for sure. One I would have been proud to have on our bookshelf.

This is a great book for kids and adults alike! It’s filled with interesting facts about birds as well as some cute stories about different sorts of birds. The illustrations are bright and colorful and will keep the attention of even the littlest readers. Very good book for all animal lovers!

Speedy the Swift takes the reader on a learning experience of what makes birds who they are through the brilliantly colored illustrations of illustrator Vivian Mineker Chen. I don't know if it was the author or illustrator who came up with the creative format that appealed to this grandma, son, and a fifth grader, but it's a real winner! The text is appropriate for reading WITH another, by a reader, and even ESL. Excellent for gifting and to donate to the local public library! Loved it!
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Adobe Digital Editions from Quarto Publishing Group/Frances Lincoln Children's Books/Happy Yak via NetGalley. Thank you!

This book is not only beautiful designed but it’s so educational. My son and I read it and he loved learning about birds! I love books like this. Highly recommend!

This is a Non-Fiction Children's book that I read to my twin boys. I really loved the information that was in this book. I loved all the bird pictures that were in this book. My boys really enjoyed this book so much. I have a ton of song birds that are all around my house, and I have a lot of bird feeders. I love seeing all the birds, and I love learning more about the birds. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Happy Yak) or author (Moira Butterfield) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that. This book is scheduled to be released on May 31-2022.

This book is kind of a hybrid fiction meets non-fiction. There are pages worth of interesting information about a wide variety of birds and their adaptations or special qualities such as migration, feathers and beak shape, as well as a number of folk tales about birds. The book ends with a page about how to be kind to birds in your community.

There is quite a bit of text on a page, usually in short paragraphs spread throughout the page with pictures interspersed. The pictures are colourful and detailed, and definitely add to the context and comprehension of the book. The font is fairly small and the content of the text is written at a higher reading level. There are also bolded words which I would expect to find in a glossary but there was not one that I could see.

As a Grade 3 teacher I could definitely see this book in my classroom library, and being used as a resource for research or information related to study of animals and adaptations in science. I would recommend this book to parents and teachers of children in the age 5-10 range, to be read mainly with support or in shared reading contexts. Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

What a fun way to learn about different birds!!

In the Secret Life of Birds our guide Speedy the Swift shows us the differences between many species of birds. Through the colorful illustrations we are transported to many different lands and times to explore the different species of birds and how they each differ from one another. There are legends and tales from other countries included to tell the history of why some birds came to be the way that they are today. The Illustrations are colorful and adorable, evoking memories of the fairy tales of my youth.

If you are a bird lover, you are certain to enjoy this sweet compendium of bird information, music and fun!

Grateful to have received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley & Quarto Publishing Group.

The Secret Life of Birds was a fantastic read! I absolutely enjoy watching birds and this book was filled with educational information all about birds. Some I didn't realize! Great information for everyone that learn more about birds. Highly recommend!!

The Secret Life of Birds was a really thorough, interesting read, filled with lots of bird facts! The illustrations really helped the facts come alive, from how birds fly, how feathers work, bird sounds, and migration. I also really enjoyed the different "bird tales" from around the world. This is a great book to not only learn about birds, but how to notice them and take more of an invested view of the world around us.