Description

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Part graphic biography, part practical guide to protecting our bird wildlife, this remarkable book for young readers and their families is fully committed to detailing the wonders of our native birds, the threats they face, and how we can help them. Based on the life of ‘The Bird Lady,’ Sylvia Durrant, who helped over 140,000 sick, injured, and lost birds during her lifetime, it inspires a reverence for the natural world and is a call to action for all young ecologists and environmentalists. With charming illustrations by Sarah Laing, an engrossing text, activities, and how-tos, it offers hours of enchantment and engagement. Whimsical, loving, and layered, Sylvia and the Birds makes a unique contribution to children’s knowledge of the natural world.

About the Author

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Johanna Emeney teaches creative writing at Massey University, where she gained her PhD. She has published three books of poetry: Apple & Tree (2011), Family History (2017), and Felt (2021), and an academic book, The Rise of Autobiographical Medical Poetry and the Medical Humanities (2018). Johanna lives on a lifestyle block in North Auckland with her husband and a menagerie of animals. Sarah Laing is a writer, illustrator, and cartoonist. Her books are Coming up Roses (2007), Dead People’s Music (2009), The Fall of Light (2013), Mansfield and Me: A Graphic Memoir (2016), and Let Me Be Frank (2019), and she co-edited Three Words: An Anthology of Aotearoa NZ Women’s Comics. In 2010, she was the Sargeson Fellow and in 2013 the University of Auckland/Michael King Writers Centre Fellow. She lives in Wellington with her children.