Saving Birds: Heroes Around the World Pete Salmansohn and Stephen W. Kress Hardcover, $16.95, ISBN 978-0-88448-237-6 Paperback, $7.95, ISBN 978-0-88448-276-5 9 x 10, 40 pages, color photos An Audubon Book Children / Nature; Grades 3-6

John Burroughs List of Nature Books for Young Readers, 2003
—John Burroughs Association

". . . Saving Birds is a wonderful way to learn about a splendid variety of the world's birds and the dedicated people determined to save them for the future."
—Peter Matthiessen, author of Birds of Heaven, Tigers in the Snow, The Snow Leopard, and many more

". . . Saving Birds is a profound yet delightful piece of work that teaches the importance of protecting birds throughout our world. The work of Audubon and the people portrayed in this book is marvelous!"
—Gail Gibbons, author and illustrator of children's books

". . . At last, a children's book that says, 'Yes, it can be done!' Yes, we can save endangered birds. Yes, we can save their endangered environments and the people who live in them. And it is happening. Heroes and heroines around the world are bringing many birds back from the brink of extinction. Their stories are richly told and beautifully illustrated in Audubon's Saving Birds and will inspire many young people to seek careers in ecology and conservation. This is the happiest book I have read in a long, long time!"
—Jean Craighead George, 1973 winner of the Newbery Medal for Julie of the Wolves, and Newbery Honor Book for My Side of the Mountain

Can they do it? Can they save black robins from extinction in New Zealand when there are only five left in the world? Will they be able to use puppet shows and posters in the rainforests of Mexico to protect the colorful quetzal? Can painted turkey feathers help keep hornbills from being wiped out in Malaysia? Will an environmental problem and a people problem in China be solved so that cranes and local farmers can both thrive? In Israel, can scientists and children and neighbors work against the backdrop of war to save a little falcon? And will decoys and mirrors and sound recordings fool a handsome seabird into nesting safely again on Devil's Slide Rock off the coast of California?

Can they do it? It's the question that excites and drives each story and its heroes in Saving Birds. Authors Pete Salmansohn and Steve Kress bring their own curiosity, enthusiasm, and expertise to each of these stories, just as they did with their previous Audubon book, Project Puffin. and its imaginative teacher's guide, Giving Back to the Earth.

This new book focuses on the experiences and efforts of grownups and children, scientists and volunteers working to save birds in very different corners of the world. Sometimes political and economic realities push their way into the picture, and at other times the challenges are more physical: scaling treacherous cliffs or braving rough seas to do the work that needs to be done to save birds. But as we learn about each bird and its problems, we see how our heroes use their imaginations to "think outside the box," coming up with unconventional and unusual methods-that work!

Color photographs collected from around the world illustrate these six stories, and resource information at the back of the book allows you to contact participating organizations for more information about their work. Our six stories encourage volunteerism and activism, in and out of the classroom. Teachers will find that Giving Back to the Earth, the teacher's guide developed for Project Puffin, is an excellent teaching resource for this book, as well.

Authors Pete Salmansohn and Steve Kress are known for thinking "outside the box," too. In 1973 Steve Kress came up with a new method for re-establishing seabird colonies, an experiment that successfully brought puffins back to Maine. The techniques he developed are now being used to help birds in other parts of the world. Steve still spends each summer working with seabird colonies on Maine's offshore islands, and is Audubon's vice president for bird conservation and director of Audubon's Seabird Restoration Program. Pete Salmansohn has been working with Steve on the Puffin Project since 1980 and is an educator for Audubon. Thousands of children have learned about birds and the environment in his workshops in schools, camps, and nature centers, and he has led hundreds of public boat cruises to see puffins off the coast of Maine. Pete was named Maine's Environmental Educator of the Year in 1998 and in 2001 received a Visionary Award from the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. Project Puffin: How We Brought Puffins Back to Egg Rock was named a "Notable Book for Children" by Smithsonian, an "Outstanding Science Trade Book for Children" by the Childrens Book Council and National Association of Science Teachers, and received an "Honor Book" award from Skipping Stones.

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