What will a boy do for love? The day he starts school, a young boy falls in love for the very first time. He’s so in love, in fact, that Sylvia is all he can see. But Sylvia doesn’t see him. Sylvia has eyes only for birds. So in a bold gesture to get her attention, the boy goes to school dressed up as a bird. It isn’t easy, but he doesn’t care. When your heart takes flight, playing it safe is for the birds!

When a nonprofit organization called Save the Girls pairs a 14-year-old Sudanese refugee with an American teenager from Richmond, Virginia, the pen pals teach each other compassion and share a bond that bridges two continents.

Based on phylogenetic research, this complete study of the genus Sylvia describes two new species and establishes identification criteria for all members of the family. A lengthy introduction explains the background to the research and outlines the main features of the genus. The 25 species are then treated in detail, including the African parisomas, which are here included in the Sylva group. The species accounts include sections on every aspect of identification, with colour illustrations showing age, sex and racial differences, distribution maps, sonograms, moult and wing diagrams and tables.

Entrenched secrets, mysterious spirits, and an astonishing friendship weave together in this extraordinary and haunting debut that School Library Journal calls “a powerful story about loss and moving on.” Nothing matters. Only Bird matters. And he flew away. Jewel never knew her brother Bird, but all her life she has lived in his shadow. Her parents blame Grandpa for the tragedy of their family’s past: they say that Grandpa attracted a malevolent spirit—a duppy—into their home. Grandpa hasn’t spoken a word since. Now Jewel is twelve, and she lives in a house full of secrets and impenetrable silence. Jewel is sure that no one will ever love her like they loved Bird, until the night that she meets a mysterious boy in a tree. Grandpa is convinced that the boy is a duppy, but Jewel knows that he is something more. And that maybe—just maybe—the time has come to break through the stagnant silence of the past.

Pete is a shy young boy whose family has moved away from all that is familiar and comfortable to him. In his new town Pete discovers a hill where he can watch hawks fly, and a reclusive woman who cares for injured wild birds. Pete and the woman communicate through the love that they share for wild creatures. Pete discovers there are things he can do that are important to the earth and all the creatures dwelling here.

"Originally published in the United Kingdom by Usborne Publishing"--Title page verso.

Each double-page spread includes clues, a tab to pull to uncover a picture of the correct bird, and a flap to lift to uncover more facts about that bird. The reader can push color-coded buttons to hear the song of the particular bird featured on each page to assist in identifying the bird.

A biography of Sylvia Shaw Judson Haskins, artist who created the little girl standing in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia, which was featured on the cover of John Berendt's, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Find out about the birds that make their homes in the heart of the city and how they have adjusted to such a harsh urban environment.

Franny B. Kranny refuses to cut her wild hair, despite her family's insistence, and wears a bird in her hair to a family reunion.