KAKAPO RESCUE: SAVING THE WORLD'S STRANGEST PARROT

Montgomery, Sy.  Kakapo Rescue:  Saving the World's Strangest Parrot.  Ill. by Nic Bishop.  Boston [Mass.]:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2010.  ISBN 978-0-618-49417-0.

Plot Summary

On the brink of extinction, the last 91 kakapo parrots on earth are given protected sanctuary on Codfish Island off the coast of New Zealand.  Scientists, researchers, and volunteers converge to spur the population growth of the largest and most vulnerable parrots in the world.

Critical Analysis

What do you call an eight-pound giant bird that can't fly and walks everywhere foraging for food at night?  Sounds like an opening for a joke, but the fact that there are fewer than 100 of these birds in existence today is no laughing matter.  The mating season of the kakapo parrot is almost as rare as the bird itself.  At one time, there were millions of these gigantic parrots roaming the earth.  Now, only by the selfless efforts of a few men and women, the kakapo are struggling to remain in existence.

Sy Montgomery gives us a bird's eye view of these vulnerable birds.  She is an expert in her field and has written many award-winning books.  Kakapo Rescue is the fifth book Montgomery and Bishop have developed for Houghton Mifflin's Scientists in the Field series.  The other four books can be seen in the list of other books below.  In addition to on-site observation and research for Kakapo Rescue, Montgomery gleaned background information from the following sources:  Hoki:  The Story of a Kakapo by Alison Balance and Gideon Climo; A History of the Birds of New Zealand by Sir. Walter Buller; Back from the Brink:  The Fight to Save Our Endemic Birds by Gerard Hutching; and The Kakapo by Jenny Jones with photographs by Rod Morris.  Emma O'Neil, the team leader for the National Kakapo Recovery Team, read the manuscript for Kakapo Rescue to ensure its accuracy.

Kakapo Rescue:  Saving the World's Strangest Parrot is organized into the following chapters:

     1.  The Strangest Parrot in the World

     2.  The Extinction that Almost Happened

     3.  An Island a World Apart

     4.  Secrets of the Nest

     5.  Life at "Sealer's Bay Resort & Spa"

     6.  Triangulation and Tragedy

     7.  Flossie's Wardrobe Change

     8.  Feedout Vollies

     9.  Hatch Watch

     Final Glimpse.  Blessing at Cyndy's Lookout

A table of contents would have been helpful; unfortunately, this book did not contain one.  It did, however, have a detailed index in which one could search for a specific term with ease.  Although informational books are not necessarily meant to be read from cover to cover, the reader may have a difficult time following the guided saga of the kakapo's plight without first reading it in the order it is written.  For example, in chapter 6, tragedy strikes the camp.  If the reader has not journeyed through the sleepless nights of the volunteers and researchers in their ever vigilant efforts, the weighted significance of this tragedy is lost.  Once the reader has read the entire book, it is possible to skip from chapter to chapter in no particular order.

The colorful photographs have a life of their own.  Almost every page is adorned with pictures of the forest, dedicated workers in action, various wildlife, and, of course, kakapo parrots.  The pictures allow the reader to visualize what the text is describing.  It is one thing to say that the male kakapo inflates like a football during mating season, it is another thing entirely to see the actual picture of him in his bloated state.  The merging of Montgomery's text and Bishop's photographs allow the reader to transport themselves onto Codfish Island.  It is as if one was experiencing the kakapo parrots firsthand instead of just reading about them in a book.

Montgomery is able to blend the scientific facts of the kakapo's life into a compelling story that draws the reader in.  When writing about the males during mating season she writes, "He'll scream a gravelly skraaarrk---which probably means something like 'Can't you see?  I'm a gorgeous hunk of male kakapo!  Why won't you come out to admire me?'"  When faced with the tragic death of the baby kakapo she says, "I imagine the two human mothers, standing in the dark, the little chick limp in Becky's gloved hand.  I know they must be weeping.  I am weeping, too."  The reader feels the heavy loss for a bird that was unknown to them just moments before.  That is the power of Montgomery's writing.  She make you care about the subject matter.  She invites you to be a part of Kakapo Rescue:  Saving the World's Strangest Parrot.

Awards

Sibert Medal, 2011 

Review Excerpts
 

"As usual, Montgomery's delight in her subject is contagious, and throughout her enthusiastic text, she nimbly blends scientific and historical facts with immediate, sensory descriptions of fieldwork. Bishop's photos of the creatures and their habitat are stunning; an awe-inspiring, closing image of the world's eighty-seventh known Kakapo emerging from its shell captures the miracle of birth, for any species. Like many of the team's previous titles, this offers excellent support for units about animal conservation." Gillian Engberg, Booklist 2010

"Excellent photos and a readable, conversational text provide an intimate look at a concerted effort to save a drastically endangered species unfamiliar to most of the world outside Down Under. Readers who enjoyed this author/photographer team's The Tarantula Scientist (2007) or Quest for the Tree Kangaroo (2006, both Houghton) will gobble up this tribute to ecological science in action."  Patricia Manning, School Library Journal

Other Books by Sy Montgomery

Saving the Ghost of the Mountain:  An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in
        Mongolia
Quest for the Tree Kangaroo:  An Expedition to the Cloud Forest of New Guinea
The Tarantula Scientist
The Snake Scientist

Visit her website for more information:  http://symontgomery.com/

Other Books by Nic Bishop

Digging for Bird-Dinosaurs:  An Expedition to Madagascar

Backyard Detective:  Critters Up Close

The Secrets of Animal Flight

 

Visit his website for more information:  http://nicbishop.com/

 

Book Connections

New Zealand by Carol Ann Gillespie

A Bird in the Hand:  Keeping New Zealand Wildlife Safe by Janet Hunt

Atlas of Rare Birds by Dominic Couzens

Parrots by Casey Horton

Connection Activities

1. Montgomery has provided a plethora of activities that can be used with Kakapo Rescue located at  the following site:  http://symontgomery.com/?page_id=27.  Teachers have permission to copy the worksheets for classroom use.
2. Watch a video about the kakapo parrots such as "The Unnatural History of the Kakapo" or "Kakapo Night Parrot."