Wisdom, the Midway Albatross: Surviving the Japanese Tsunami and Other Disasters for Over 60 Years (Another Extraordinary Animal)
by Darcy Pattison (Author) Kitty Harvill (Illustrator)
**Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly**
The Oldest Bird in the World Survives the Japanese Tsunami
The oldest bird in the world, documented with banding, is Wisdom, the Midway Albatross. She was on Midway when the Japanese Tsunami hit and this is her amazing story of survival of manmade and natural disasters for over 60 years. She has survived the dangers of living wild, plastic pollution, longline fishing, lead poisoning, and the Japanese earthquake. At 65, she's still laying eggs and hatching chicks. See her Facebook page at facebook.com/wisdomthealbatross
Wildlife artist Kitty Harvill used photos as a reference for her luminous watercolors. Her ability to depict a specific individual, not just a generic image of a species, makes this a unique portrait and a biography in text and art. Pattison's story, vetted by scientists in the field, explains the difficulties of surviving in the wild for a Laysan albatross. It's incredible that the bird banding program happened to band this unique bird early in her life and can still follow her story today.
Read this children's nonfiction picture book, story of survival and hope amidst the difficulties of life.
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Publishers Weekly
Pattison (Prairie Storms) offers a remarkable survival story about Wisdom, a female Laysan Albatross first tagged by scientists in 1956 and still alive today, having lived through multiple tsunamis, other natural disasters, and manmade threats to the well-being of her species. Born on Midway Atoll, the bird (who wouldn't receive the name Wisdom until she was rediscovered in 2002 by the scientist who originally tagged her) spends years at sea, feasting on squid, avoiding sharks, and producing chicks year after year ("By the time she was twenty," writes Pattison, "she had outlived eighty-seven percent of her rookery mates"). Harvill (Up, Up. Up! It's Apple-Picking Time) contributes carefully detailed and naturalistic illustrations, portraying both the beauty and danger of Wisdom's aquatic environment (discarded plastic and the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami are among the hazards Wisdom manages to escape). While the heavy font used for the text is at times intrusive, Pattison writes crisply and evocatively, and her closing notes provide a wealth of information and resources for readers interested in Wisdom and her fellow albatrosses. Ages 6-12.
Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.School Library Journal
Review quotes
"It's marvelous! I LOVE it! And I got a lump in my throat, tears! And I'm a biologist! Your book is beautiful, meaningful, simple, elegant.........thank you for caring, thank you for sharing this story!" -Kim Rivera, National Seabird Coordinator, NOAA Fisheries, Deputy ARA, Protected Resources Division, Alaska Region
"Wisdom's story makes my heart soar." -Kirby Larson, author of Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival and Winner of the Newbery Honor for Hattie Big Sky.
"On December 10, 1956, early in my first visit to Midway, I banded 99 incubating Laysan Albatrosses in the 'downtown' area of Sand Island, Midway. Wisdom (band number 587-51945) is still alive, healthy, and incubating again in December 2011. While I have grown old and gray and get around only with the use of a cane, Wisdom still looks and acts just the same as on the day I banded her. . . remarkable true story. . . beautifully illustrated in color." -Chandler S. Robbins, Sc.D, Senior Scientist (Retired), USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD.
"As both a seabird conservationist and a mom to young kids, I highly recommend Wisdom, the Midway Albatross. Wisdom's true story of survival is exciting and artist Kitty Harvill brings her to life in illustrations that are beautiful and accurate. Having worked to protect these magnificent creatures, I find it wonderful to be able to share their story through this book!" -Jessica Hardesty Norris, Ph.D., Seabird Program Director, American Bird Conservancy
JNF003270 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Animals | Endangered
