When The Storks Came Home - Isabella Tree

Author: Isabella Tree

Illustrator: Alexandra Finkeldey

Genre: Children's Fiction, Picture book, Animals.

Rating: 4.25 stars.

A beautiful picture book that means well and does fairly well.

Little Beanie loves all kinds of birds and spends time at the local nature preserve bird-watching. But when her parents bring home a baby brother, she discovers a new bird on the congratulatory cards they receive – a white stork. When she learns from Andy, an employee at the nature preserve, that white storks no longer visit Britain, Beanie gets disheartened. Andy and she decide to work together to ensure the return of white storks. And their plan works!

The book is a fictionalised account based on true events. Beanie is a fictional character, but the stork-related events are true. It mainly focusses on the “White Stork Project” in Sussex, which managed to successfully get wild storks back to England after more than 600 years. It also borrows from other true events that are connected to storks but not to the White Stork Project. For instance, it borrows one idea from the two storks who were helped by a local in Croatia – he built them a nest on the roof of his house. (You can read the wonderful story of these storks in ‘Feathers Together’.)

I liked how the book details out the approach towards the reintroduction of animals in their old natural habitats in an easy-to understand way. The author is a conservationist, and the content of the book makes her knowledge amply clear. Her note at the end reveals the actual events and also contains some photos of the storks who are now regular at Knepp, West Sussex.

The water-colour-style illustrations amply support the content. As all the sketches are in nature tones (browns and greens), they emphasize on the core theme of the story.

At the same time, there are a couple of things that could have worked better for me:

- The target group is ages 4-7, but the subject matter is slightly difficult for the younger readers in this segment. Unless an adult familiarises them with the idea of conservation and reintroduction, they won’t get the significance of the events.

- Beanie doesn’t meet with a single hurdle after taking her decision. The very day after she makes a plan, there are injured storks in Poland looking for a new home. When Andy and she decide to have fundraisers, the results look almost instantaneous and easy. I wish it had incorporated some of the challenges of these endeavours so that kids would have got a more realistic perspective of how difficult it is to implement these ideas successfully, how the best of intensions fail at times, and why we need to be more vigilant about animals and their needs.

- There are too many things happening too quickly, and sometimes, these affect the smoothness of the story.

Nevertheless, this is a beautiful story that will surely be a favourite of little animal (and bird) lovers. Recommended for sure, to be read with adult guidance.

The printed book will be printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper – I love these nature-friendly gestures.

My thanks to Ivy Kids, Quarto Publishing Group, and Edelweiss+ for the DRC of “When The Storks Came Home”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.