Jennifer Mary G

From the very beginning, our book, YOU AND THE BOWERBIRD, illustrated by Maris Wicks, is inviting the reader to observe Satin Bowerbirds as if they too were bird-watchers and budding scientists like the girl main character.

Starting with the dust jacket, we see our young, budding birder peering through a birder’s main piece of equipment, binoculars, which play an important design role in the book as well. She’s watching a Satin Bowerbird in action—lover of all blue things, poised to steal the blue letter “U.”

Remove the dust jacket and you’ll see Maris’ brilliant cover design that also incorporates the birding element—our budding bird nerd’s field notebook, replete with stickers on the front:

And to-do post-it notes on the back:

I absolutely adore the end papers Maris created for our book! The front endpapers showcase the inner pages of the cover, the girl-birder’s field notebook, full of notes, sketches and observations of the Satin Bowerbirds that she sees in her spring-time backyard in in Australia, the bird’s native habitat.

The end papers introduce the book’s main characters, Satin, who’s seeking a mate.

Pea, his intended paramour.

Pirate, a rival male who’s stealing all of Satin’s prized blue possessions.

As well as a quick appearance by the rowdy juvenile males, destroyers of Satin’s beautifully constructed bower. 

The back end papers are equally joyful, featuring Satin’s blue period and its corresponding collectible items: marbles, ribbons, pegs (aka clothespins), yarn, crayons, bottle caps and more.

The first spread opens with this binocular-designed image, and this question, “Have you seen the blue-black bird?” which invites readers into the world of birding:

Throughout the book, we and the birder-girl learn things about Satin Bowerbirds and their native habitat—that they like to collect blue-hued items both natural, like rosella parrot feathers, and artificial, like blue bottle caps; they build elaborate U-shaped bowers from twigs and grass, and decorate them with these objects, arranging and re-arranging them until they are satisfied, hoping to attract the attention of female visitors. And that bowers are not nests—they’re bachelor pads, so to speak.

Drama ensues when Pea, a potentially interested female visits, but she’s scared away by a rival male, Pirate, who also steals off with Satin’s prized blue items. 

And you, the bird-watcher, help, by placing blue objects that might pique Satin’s interior-design interest, like socks, and marbles and more.

Not only am I a proud bird-nerd, but I’m also a back matter nerd—oh, how I love back matter. The “Bower Power” back matter section offers more detailed STEM info on bower creation and their blue adornments, on pirates and pillagers, on females and nest-building (where eggs are laid and nestlings hatch) and more detailed information on Satin Bowerbird courtship rituals.

Maris and I both love birds. We hope that our book will spark a love of birding and nature, promote empathy for all creatures we share this earth with, and inspire the next generation of environmental stewards and conservationists which we so desperately need to save our beloved planet and all its inhabitants.

Thanks to the generosity of our publisher, Roaring Brook Press, we’re giving away a copy of YOU AND THE BOWERBIRD (US residents only due to postage costs—sorry!)

Thanks so much for featuring our book on your blog, Jennifer.

Maria Gianferrari is a community scientist, self-taught naturalist, and bird nerd who holds an M.A. in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in English. She is the author of narrative nonfiction picture books which celebrate urban ecosystems, the natural world and our wild neighbors. She also writes engaging expository nonfiction. Maria lives in Massachusetts and loves bird-watching from her kitchen window while drinking her morning cup of tea. Her next title with Roaring Brook Press, To Dogs, With Love, releases in December. Maria’s other current and forthcoming 2023 titles include Being a Cat (April), Thank a Farmer (September) and Fungi Grow (October).

Maria’s also the author of Ice Cycle, Being a Dog & Bobcat Prowling (2022); Be A Tree (2021), Whoo-Ku Haiku & Play Like an Animal (2020); Terrific Tongues, Hawk Rising & Operation Rescue Dog (2018); Hello Goodbye Dog (2017); Officer Katz and Houndini Coyote Moon & Penny & Jelly: Slumber Under the Stars (2016) and her debut picture book, Penny & Jelly: The School Show (2015).

Maris Wicks is a writer and illustrator of science comics, as well as a self-proclaimed gigantic nerd. She has written, drawn, and colored comics for First Second Books, New England Aquarium and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, as well as Spongebob Comics, Marvel Comics, and DC Comics. She has an ongoing collaboration with science communicator/comic artist Rosemary Mosco to bring you Your Wild City, a weekly webcomic about urban ecology.

When she is not busy making comics, Wicks can be found prepping slides for her collection of vintage microscopes, traveling, scuba diving, hiking, and baking cookies (though never all of those things all at once). She was a program educator at the New England Aquarium for eight years, teaching kids about how awesome marine science is. Now, her work in science education and outreach continues into her comics work: Wicks was the science outreach communicator for Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution onboard the R/V Atlantis for Popping Rocks Cruise in March/April of 2016. Most recently, she was in Antarctica as a part of the USAP Artists & Writers grant, working on a graphic novel about life and science in Antarctica.

Maris Wicks is the illustrator of The New York Times Bestselling book Primates, by Jim Ottaviani (2013), the graphic novel, Human Body Theater (2015), Coral Reefs (2016), and Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier by Jim Ottaviani (2020), and thepicture book Dragon Bones by Sarah Glenn Marsh (2022).

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