The other day after I had posted about crows, Sandra of “Random Thoughts of a Great-Granny Grandma”
told me about her ravens, and that she had written a book about the ones who nested within sight of her balcony. Below I have repeated the comment she left me.
“I went to the link you shared and read the story. They are really smart and loyal birds, and so are ravens.
I've been following a family of ravens that came to town quite a few years ago and built a nest on the water tower across the way from my balcony. They came back every year even when there was major construction going on and a temporary tower built to temporarily house the antennas, etc. that were on the original, and they found a spot to build themselves a nest there too, and then when all the work was completed and the temporary tower dismantled, they went right back to the original tower.
Anyway, all that to say, I took many pictures of them and their babies learning to fly, and that was the inspiration of my first children's picture book--The Water Tower Ravens (see sidebar on my blog). I had never aspired to be an author--let alone of children's picture books--but that's what got me started.”
I was intrigued so I visited Sandra’s blog and purchased her book. It arrived a few days ago. I am not the greatest reviewer like those of you who have written about the books you read, but I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, along with her photos and narrative. It is written for children 3+, and told from the raven perspective. It also has interesting facts for adults at the end, a delightful read and for want of a better word, is absolutely charming. Any child (or adult) would enjoy this sweet story. I would have been very happy to read it to our son when he was young.
Sandra has a lovely blog which I also enjoy, and if you would like to take a look, you can visit the link above, or if you prefer to copy and paste, I have written the full address below.
Sandra has written several other children’s books and sometime in the future I would like to purchase others. You can see them all on her sidebar.
Thank you Sandra (Great-Granny-Grandma) for a lovely read and this is a book I am very happy to have on the bookshelf. It will be waiting for anyone with young children among our visitors.
Thanks for looking everyone and I hope your day is filled with sunshine.
seems a nice book. I should check it
ReplyDeleteThank you, I would appreciate that kindness :)
DeleteI love crows, and we have quite a few here, and a lot at Wal-Mart. I have the book about the ravens at the Tower Of London, written by their keeper. I follow her blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Ginny, how wonderful, me too :) I have heard of the ravens at the Tower of London, but did not know their keeper had a blog. Could you give me her addy please?
DeleteHow interesting Denise.
ReplyDeleteThank you Margaret :)
DeleteHow interesting that the ravens went back to the original nesting sight after construction was over.
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with that blogger. I'll have to check her out.
I thought so too Ann, just says to me that there is more to the bird/animal kingdom than we know, and I'm sure Sandra would love it if you said hello :)
DeleteOh, how nice that you bring this up. I didn't know, and I probably overlook it because I'm always so focused on translating the blog post. Thank you, I'll take a look at hers.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Aritha :) I think it's marvelous that you translate, thank you so much! I tried translating with Google into Dutch but it didn't work on that day. I will try again before visiting you :)
DeleteThanks for sharing the story and the book Denise! Take care, have a great day and a happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome Eileen, I enjoy visiting Sandra and have enjoyed her book very much :) Thank you and I wish you the same :)
DeleteLike Ginny, we have a ton of crows here and Walmart always has a murder of crows every where. very interesting story about the towers and sounds like a great book for kids.
ReplyDeleteCrows are fascinating and they send warning calls out to not only crows, but other birds hear them and take cover. This is a lovely book for kids and I like the fact that it teaches a little bit about nature, and that their personality is shown. We are all connected :)
DeleteWe don't have ravens here in Tulsa but they are in Yellowstone Park where my sister used to work and they are very smart and resourceful. Sounds like an excellent childrens book.
ReplyDeleteI remember your sister's blog regarding Yellowstone :) I found it very interesting. The only time I saw ravens was when we were traveling further west, unless I have seen them and thought they were crows. Ours that visit us are definitely crows. I'll have to do a search to find out more about the raven's territory.
DeleteSounds good
ReplyDeleteThank you Christine, it was very enjoyable! :)
DeleteSo nice of you to share her blog and information about her book – while I do see lots of them here, I’ve never seen a nest. I just may have to get some binoculars, take a walk through the woods and see what I can discover - Looking forward to reading your older posts!
ReplyDeleteHello Mary, welcome to my blog :) and thank you. I like to share and was happy to do that with Sandra’s lovely book. I need a good pair of binoculars also. I usually use my camera with the zoom but it’s getting too heavy for me. Walking through the woods is a favorite pastime of mine. I love taking it all in!
DeleteThank you for telling us about her book on ravens. I will be visiting soon. Ravens are so interesting to me and I'm sure I would learn something new from her children's book.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome Martha Ellen and they certainly are very interesting :)
DeleteI like reading children’s books every now and then.
ReplyDeleteMe too Linda :)
DeleteThat sounds quite lovely!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jeanie, it really is.
DeleteThanks so much, Denise, for making my day with that lovely plug for my book. That was very kind of you, and I really, really appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome Sandra, I meant every word :)
DeleteI've never been able to tell the difference between the ravens and the crows. But I've seen so many crows around my neighborhood lately, and also at the park when I visited So Cal. That's really something that they built their nest on the tower. I guess the trees aren't the only places for the wild to build their nests.
ReplyDelete~Sheri
It's a hard one but once you know you never forget :) On our trip out west I kept seeing what I thought were crows, only to find out from a blogging friend that they were actually ravens. And very true that they will build their nests in other places than trees.
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