A review by backonthealex
On the Wing by David Elliott

4.0

I keep returning to David Elliott's books about nature over and over again. From On the Farm, In the Wild, and In the Sea, my young readers learned about nature and poetry together. Now they can do the same with On the Wing. In this collection of 16 poems, Elliot celebrates a wide variety of birds. The poems range from playful to serious, but all catch the essence of each individual birds. Pair this with Elliott's other books to give young readers a nice rounded poetic picture of nature and its beauty in our world. Stadtlander's beautiful realistic gouache illustrations place each bird in to natural habitat, and extend the poetic mood. With only two exceptions, each bird/poem pairing is spread over a double page. Kids are sure to develop a beginning appreciation for the avian world after reading On the Wing.