Pistes d'exploration

Examine the cover and back pages. Clarify the terms aviary, catalog and instruction manual. In small groups, make predictions about the book’s contents.

Read the section, “About the Company.” Discuss the elements of this book that might be fiction or non-fiction. Continue to reflect on this as you read.

Make one page of a similar catalog on a different animal. Include the same structures and features.

Create a bird of your own. Complete an order form (page 32). Draw it and add a descriptive card with pertinent information. Showcase all the birds.

Observe the cover and back pages. What do you think the book is all about? Discuss it in small teams, then share your ideas with the class.

Look through the book, observing its structures and features. Discuss how this exercise helps you understand the book.

Create a bird of your own. Complete an order form (page 32). Draw it and add a descriptive card with pertinent information. Showcase all the birds.

See the troubleshooting guide (pages 30, 31). Create a question and an answer for your bird, following the same style.

Fact blends with fiction in this text, which is set in the future. Read the “About the Company” section. In a large or small group, discuss what you notice. Discussion of observations and understandings is essential in order to think critically about this text.

In a small group, discuss the elements of the writer/producer’s craft and the text conventions that impact meaning.

Using a response process, write a response that considers the big idea(s), significant text elements and any connections you made.

Examine the cover and listen to a reading of the introductory paragraph, “About the Company.” Clarify the terms aviary, catalog, renewing and instruction manual. In small groups, make predictions about the book’s contents.

Create a Fact or Fiction T-chart. While listening to the story and carefully observing the illustrations, take notes in one of the two columns. Discuss your chart with a partner and add new information.

The author explains that the book is “a dark and funny look at what might happen if we let natural habitats disappear.” Research and prepare an instruction manual for the preservation of an endangered species and its habitat here in Canada. Share and reflect on your findings with your peers.

Weird Birds, Varmints, Birds A to Z

Mots-clés

Picture book , animal adaptations , animal anatomy , birds , future , parody , protecting the environment

Commentaire descriptif

This mock catalogue, offering people of the future a unique opportunity to craft their own bird, begins with a company statement by the founder of Aviary Wonders Inc., who has hired “a team of the finest biologists, engineers, and artisans” to manufacture only what meets their “rigorous standards of beauty and durability.” The disturbing premise of the book is that birds are now extinct and, while they can’t be replaced, people can create “an exquisite alternative” for themselves. This tongue-in-cheek but cautionary guidebook invites shoppers to choose “the right parts” for their pet. Beaks, (“available in hardwood or porcelain”), screw-on legs and embellishments like recycled rubber wattles, will “make your bird unforgettable.” Organized into sections – beaks, tails, flight patterns, etc. – each multimedia spread features a vibrant array of duly identified body parts alongside facts about various species. Observant readers will figure out that what lurks behind this parody is a grim portrait of a future world without the natural habitats we take for granted. The book includes directions for teaching the robotic birds to fly and sing, a step-by-step guide to assembly, trouble-shooting tips, an order form (with disclaimers) and customer testimonials.