Exciting book to read, I learned some new facts about birds and their beaks. The pages are colorful and easy to read. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy.

Very infomatonal book! Beautiful pages with lots of information on the different birds. My 5year old really enjoyed it. I think it was slightly repetition as each page had a very similar setup, but otherwise a good book to have on the shelf!

A Peek at Beaks was a quick read that we mostly enjoyed. The illustrations were lovely, and I thought it was clever of them to have the reader guess which birds had certain beaks by using silhouettes with actual tools for their bills. The kids had a lot of fun guessing which birds might use each tool, and it was a creative way to get them involved in the story.

However, I do think it would have been better if the silhouettes had actually resembled the birds they were supposed to be depicting, but all of the shadow shapes looked exactly the same. It made it hard for my kiddos to correctly guess which birds were being discussed, because they were only trying to think of birds that resembled the silhouettes and not necessarily which birds had those specific "tools" for a beak.

A wonderful concept that I wish had been executed better.

I also disliked the fonts that were used and thought they were distracting. I know that's a personal preference, but I don't feel like they complimented the story or the illustrations. In fact, I would say they hurt both. Would a child notice or care? Probably not. Although, I do think different fonts would improve the overall aesthetic of the book.

Something else that slightly grated on my nerves: the double identifications and repeated information. The author lists which other birds have similar tools for beaks, and the illustrator includes drawings of them with labels attached. I feel like only one is necessary. Additionally, I wish the information being shared felt more like a story and less like a lesson. I understand the author is sharing facts, but there has to be a more entertaining way to present them. I felt like I was reading dictionary definitions and not fun facts about birds. (★★★☆☆)

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own. Any quotes I use are from an unpublished copy and may not reflect the finished product.

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These beautiful illustrations will draw you in and you'll love the participatory writing style. Makes a great read aloud.

I really loved this beautifully illustrated children's book and I found it fascinating and very interesting. It explains how the beaks of different birds work and how they are all different shapes and sizes. Some types of birds have beaks which are like tweezers, some have beaks which are like a knife, some have beaks which are like a sieve and some have beaks which are like a straw. Each beak can do a different thing, for example, some are good for eating other animals, some are good for eating insects and some are good for cracking open nuts and seeds. The book is just beautiful and amazing. My daughter really enjoyed looking at the awesome illustrations. I highly recommend this book.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."
The illustrations were beautiful and the book was well written. I loved how it was organized by bill type/job and the information that was shared.
I wish I had had this book available when we had studied flying creatures with Apologia. This would have been a great add on.

Wow this was an awesome book! My son and I loved the guessing game and we got a kick out of trying to figure out what kind of birds used beaks in a certain way. Loved the way this book was set up! Excellent illustrations, easy to digest and something to learn for all ages!

A beautiful and informative nonfiction picture book! The question/answer format activates readers’ prior knowledge and generates ideas, then provides readers with information about how a bird’s beak functions in a way that is similar to a common tool. The illustrations are colorful and engaging. This is a great resource for helping young learners understand and learn about animal adaptations.

A Peek at Beaks
Tools Birds Use
by Sara Levine
Lerner Publishing Group
Millbrook Press ™

Birds, beaks, and how they use them! So many types of beaks and this explains in a fun way how each type of beak is used by what birds! What birds use a net? What uses a jackhammer? What about a strainer?

The birds are illustrated adorably and identified in each category. With the explanation on why the beaks are used for each category, it will be easy for the young reader to remember. Educational and entertaining!

I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this terrific book of birds and beaks!

This is a great nonfiction book with lovely visuals of a wide array of birds. I appreciate the narration of the book, as it is written in a way that engages the reader. The reader is asked questions of different birds and answers are discovered on the following pages. It is a wonderful way to include the young reader in the learning process and I think makes the content even more interesting. Learning about the uses of various birds' beaks are interesting for any animal enthusiast or anyone whom generally loves to learn! A Peek at Beaks is a lovely book!

Real cute, informative and easy to follow. I read this with my 5 year old and he enjoyed it. I liked the illustrations a lot, and I liked that on each page a bird was in the spotlight, but other similar birds were shown. It helped to show familiar birds alongside some we’d not heard of yet. Definitely a fun addition to a bird unit study, a discussion about evolution, or for kids who just like birds!

Sara Levine has used a novel idea in her newest book, A Peek at Beaks. Targeting older preschool and early elementary ages, the book takes a wonderful look at different types of beaks and how they are used to best help birds. With full color illustrations, Levine has added a page at the beginning of each beak type showing a bird silhouette with a surprising beak adaptation. For instance, one of the birds has a bendy straw shape hanging where the beak should be. When you read on, you learn about how hummingbirds have long thin beaks which they use to reach into trumpet shaped flowers. The book continues in turn. This is a great way to explain evolution of bird beaks for any budding naturalist, biologist, or animal enthusiast.

First of all the title of this book along with the knowledge it provides is cleverly fantastic. The guessing of what kinda bird it would based off what type of beak was a really cool concept. Really enjoyed this and although the illustrations are drawn I appreciate the realism

I requested this book for review because I wanted to see how "my" kids in the kindergarten would enjoy it. It was a massive success!

My overall feelings are positive but I had a couple of minor issues.
Most of he art was super cute and fit the aesthetic of the book. The birds were very likeable characters in it.
My only problem was the artwork of the beaks as tools parts. Some were very very similar and some were hard to tell what it was. I very much like the idea of it but I would've enjoyed a more readable execution. Since it was hard for me to decipher some tools without the text, I would imagine it would be even harder for a child.

I very much look forward to similar books as this one, since we had such a fun time with the kids.

A Peek at Beaks, Tools Birds Use by Sara Levine is delightful!
I have been a birdwatcher for years and recommend this book to beginners or younger birders. The illustrations are beautiful. The book has a question-and-answer format to dispense information about how birds use their beaks to forage for food and to help in nest building. Sometimes looking at a bird's beak can help to identify the bird. A lovely book to share with children or older.
Publication Date: September 7, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book.

I love birds and knew I would love this brilliant illustrated book. A book about how birds use their beaks as tools. A wonderful early learning book about birds with bright and colorful illustrations. I highly recommend it for kids of all ages. Thanks to #netgalley for this advanced reading copy.

What a fantastic look at bird beaks! The pictures are beautiful and the comparison between bird beaks and human tools is an ingenious way to get children to understand the ways that birds are able to use the beaks that they were designed with, while sticking to something that is familiar (and often fun) to children. I would highly recommend this book for a study of birds to help children understand how birds are able to provide for their needs without the use of hands.

A Peek at Beaks is beautifully illustrated by Kate Slater. The birds are colourful, detailed and engaging and bound to catch children's’ and parent’s attention. The text is lively and informative and I certainly learnt new and unusual facts! I’m not sure whether the Illustration accompanying each beak question is strictly necessary and could have perhaps been used to illustrate another species however it is a unique approach.

For some reason children’s non-fiction is extremely appealing to me all of a sudden, so I wanted to check this one out.

Really cute and informative book. I especially liked the section towards the end about ways that birds use their beaks unrelated to feeding (I didn’t know that about toucans!). I think both text and illustrations were strongest there. The final section on evolution (which is noticeably more advanced than the rest of the book) is also a great addition.

I really liked the illustrations. They kind of remind me of the style in many children’s books I read as a kid. This is not to say that they’re antiquated or anything, but it’s an older style than the one seen in many kids’ books these days, which tend to have a different vibe.

I will say, because I have to, that there’s one thing that bugged me a fair amount. There’s a sentence in the front flap that says that birds can’t really use tools, not the way humans can, of course. This is also repeated in some of the promotional material. New Caledonian crows obviously disagree. It’s a very cool, very special, very significant thing that these birds do! Not only can they manufacture tools, there are even cultural elements to the way they do it! This probably wasn’t written by the author, because it’s the opposite of an obscure fact for anyone with a somewhat serious interest in birds. This was a bit disappointing to get right at the start, but I won’t let that cloud my judgment of the book as a whole.