A Peek at Beaks

Using her familiar question-asking style, author Sara Levine successfully engages the reader in looking carefully at both words and illustrations to come up with answers. Beginning with the question, “Have you ever imagined you were a bird?” Readers learn that birds have a ready-made tool on their faces—a beak—and they are introduced to how various birds use their beaks as tools. . Colorful illustrations assist the reader in generating ideas. Readers emerge with a good understanding of the functions of various bird beaks.

As the book continues, the more focused Q & As begin: “Can you think of a bird that has a beak shaped like a straw?” Turn the page and see a hummingbird, learn how it uses its beak, and what animals have a similar beak. This is a well-written book, with colorful, informative illustrations. The format is fun to read and the illustrations a a joy to look at. Keep these books coming! They make science a treat.

Gorgeously illustrated!! This book is an excellent addition to school unit on birds or evolution. The use of modern tools to describe the function of bird beaks and how they differ based in diet/behavior is an excellent critical thinking feature. This book makes a wonderful resource for young learners.

A Peek at Beaks was so clever and such a delight! It passed the toddler test - as I read it with my daughter. We loved the guessing game aspect, and we were so pleased with the ones we got right! We both learned so much and look forward to looking more closely at the birds around us.
Charming and detailed illustrations really made it all come to life for us, We look forward to A Peek at Beaks to go to print, so we can add it to our collection.

I really enjoyed this book and learned about a variety of birds. It would be great as a read- along for little ones and older elementary children could enjoy it on their own. The illustrations and examples were entertaining and educational.

Lovely illustrations! This book is about birds and beaks. This is a children's nonfiction book that sure to grab adult's attention as well. The style with questions and answers are very interactive. There's also an explanation about evolution in birds.

I 💓 birds and find something new I didn't know before. For example adult seagulls have a red dot on their beaks for the chicks to peck on when they are hungry. The parents would regurgitate a meal for them. Another new to me is the toucan's large beak. It's beak is full of blood vessels that works as ventilation to cool off in the tropical climate. Very cool!

Thank you Netgalley, Lerner Publishing Group/Millbrook Press for this ARC.

We absolutely loved this book. It was fun, educational, and appealing to the young reader’s eye. I will definitely be keeping a copy for our home library.

I just finished "A Peek at Beaks: Tools Birds Use" by Sara Levine, illustrated by Kate Slater. As a retired 5th grade science teacher, I wish I had had this book for my students in our bird unit. This book is set up as questions/answers. The author poses a question about bird beaks as a particular tool (net, scissors, etc.) and has an illustration that supports the question on one page. Then on the next page the question is answered in a short paragraph with illustrations of the various birds that would use that type of beak. For any young person that is new to birdwatching, this book givens them interesting information about the birds they may be encountering. It would also be great for an older birder to share with a younger person to get them involved in birdwatching for fun. There is also a list of other bird books for further reading to continue the exploration about birds. This book would be a great picture book for beginning readers and/or a read aloud with great vocabulary for all kids! This could generate great conversations and outdoor explorations for all generations.

The illustrations in this book are beautiful! My children loved that this book had you guess which bird (and it's beak) it was going to talk about. After guessing, the book gave facts about the bird, the lifestyle it has, and why the beaks are shaped the way they are. An excellent lesson in anatomical shape and physiological function. They enjoyed this book very much.

An absolutely brilliant book. Very well written with lots of visualisation to help children really grasp the concept. The illustrations are beautifully done and the birds are labelled well. I love the questions to introduce each bird and what they use their beak for. Great extension at the end on the evolution of birds beaks and simple enough to grasp but not necessary to read if your child/children aren’t ready. This would be great for the classroom and forest school sessions but also for bedtime reading. I would say ages 3 to 8 but younger children would love the illustrations and older children may like to read it to themselves.

As someone who has been an elementary teacher for 7 years, this book caught my eye because of its great cover design as I'm always looking for books that can caught the interest of my students. The book is well-written with interesting facts that while some may know, many will find new. The graphics seem selected purposefully and are directly relevant to each page. As an adult, this book was entertaining and enjoyable, and I think my students would rate it a 5/5. Looking forward to sharing this book with other adults who have or teach children - and may find the book catches their interest, too!

This book enriches your children’s minds with its educative facts, explaining their specific features like their beaks and also giving some insight into how a few of them show their affections for each other. An enlightening, educative, fun, and interesting book, that entertains, teaches and delights your kids.

This is an easy 5 stars from me. Even as an adult reader, I enjoyed and gained some value from the educational factor provided in this book. Additionally, I thought that the illustrations/design was entertaining and quite honestly very pretty. I liked the pages about the bird types the best, especially the Toucan. I think this would make an excellent addition to a library or classroom reading collection. Also good for a home collection. It offers scientific, natural, and artistic value.

This is such an informative and awesome kid's book! It's interactive, which is great for teaching kids and getting them engaged with the material, and there are so many different birds that are described herein. It also delves briefly into how evolution and Darwinism work. A lovely, colourful book for young readers!

A Peek at Beaks is an entertaining and informative book about birds. The book is beautifully illustrated. It explains the concept of biodiversity in an easily understood way for young children. One page shows a common tool and the next page provides the bird and beak that functions in a similar manner. Young children and even parents can learn from this book. Birds are easily observed and as close as outside your door allowing children to see for themselves the concepts presented in this book.

Beautiful illustrations and very informative! Great for all ages as you can provide as much or as little information as is appropriate for your little, with even more information available in the back for more advanced readers.

The illustrations are vivid and the format (some question and answer, basic descriptions that are short and sweet) keeps the reader engaged as they learn more on each page.

This past weekend, my 4-year old sat in my lap and had me tell him the name of every single bird pictured in What It’s Like to Be a Bird by David Allen Sibley. So this was a perfect book to follow that up with, and vastly more age appropriate! The bird illustrations in this book are just lovely. They have a kind of Charley Harper-ish quality to them. There were so many things in this book that even I didn’t know! I loved the comparisons of different kinds of beaks to common tools., and my kid giggled at the jackhammer beak. I look forward to seeking out a hard copy of 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.

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.

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.