Circle by Jeannie Baker
Walker Books, 2016. ISBN 9781406338010
(Age: all) Highly recommended. Natural world. Birds. Inter
relationship. Environment. The circle of life is reprised on every
page in this beautiful new book from illustrator/author Jennie
Baker. Her story of the godwits, the birds which amazingly wing
their way from Alaska to Australia and back each year, will stun the
readers. The story itself is a powerful reminder that we are all
interrelated, that what humans do has an impact upon the rest of the
planet, and from the perspective of this one small bird, that our
interference with the coastline seriously degrades their habitat.
Linked with her glorious collage illustrations the book reflects the
environment in which we all live and makes a spine tingling
imperative that we do much more to protect it.
The life cycle of the godwit is shown through one bird, one with
white splashes on his wings, and we follow him throughout the book.
He flies from Alaska to Australia, a journey of 11,000 kilometres
and on the return journey he finds a mate, they build a nest
together and raise their chicks. Each arm of their journey is
fraught with danger as their environment is degraded, places they
once stopped to rest are gone, buildings dot the coastlines, land
clearance has put their feeding places at risk and foxes search for
their chicks.
Every page greets the inquiring reader, intriguing them with hints
of just how each picture is made, astonishing them with information
about this amazing bird, revealing just how we have made the
environment so difficult for these birds to survive. Each page
impels the reader to stop and think about why our earth is now in
such great peril. Our interconnection is repeated throughout the
book, no reader can miss the powerful message being offered.
The circle motif is repeated throughout the book with the curvature
of the earth shown in many of the illustrations. The reader cannot
escape the image of the reserve where the boy watches the birds at
the beginning of the book, compared with the reserve at the end:
degraded, overused, with industry encroaching on its borders.
Readers will easily spot the impact of man on this environment, the
lights of the city seen from on high as the birds fly north, the
increasing rubbish seen on the beach, the degradation of the
waterfront, the number of buildings seen in the background, planes
in the sky. Further inspection of each wonderful image will enhance
the readers' interpretation and awe. And readers will ponder the
image of the boy, at first disabled and in a wheelchair, dreaming of
flying, at the end leaving his crutches behind and running onto the
beach, and later still dreaming of flying with his crutches beneath
his bed. The bird and the boy have been on impressive journeys,
causing the reader to stop and speculate on each of them, and
wondering how the boy, a bird watcher, can use his knowledge to make
a change. This book throws the question back on the reader, and will
create much discussion in classrooms and libraries.
Fran Knight
Editor's note: Teacher's notes
are available at the publisher's website.