I recently was offered this book by the authors’ very pleasant publicist. Since it was okay that I did NOT live in Washington, I happily accepted it since I do love birds (but don’t know much about them).

This was such a unique approach to learning about and celebrating birds! A “lyrical guide” is how it’s framed, and each entry has hand-drawn art depicting the bird, as well as a poem. It was really a delight to look through this book and I am so thankful for the print copy I received. I thought as I read this that it would make a lovely gift for someone living in or moving to Washington State, or really just for anyone who loves and is interested in birds!

Thank you so much for thinking of me and reaching out!

Here’s the scoop:

Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds is a one-of-a-kind Washington State bird guide. The anthology includes original pen and ink sumi-e paintings by artist Hiroko Seki, bird fact notes, and short poems/stories/memoir. Poems/prose are bird-focused rather than human centered. The bird notes include information about song, call, mating rituals, habitat, migration, climate, dark comedy, and fun facts.

Birdbrains brings to the stage 107 species of Washington birds in the words of ninety-eight talented poets and writers. The contributors come from different regions of Washington State, from other parts of the USA, and even from faraway lands such as Ireland. In the mix of talent, there are contributions from four Washington State Poet Laureates (Elizabeth Austen, Claudia Castro Luna, Kathleen Flenniken, and Derek Sheffield), three Pulitzer Prize winners (Rae Armantrout, Ted Kooser, and Diane Seuss), and a special collaborative poem by Ann Teplick’s young students at Seattle Children’s.

(summary from Amazon)