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"Agnes Peregrine, daughter of the well-known ornithologist, Professor Octavia Peregrine, was a real birdbrain. / At the age of three, Agnes could do the courtship dance of the blue-footed booby. / At the age of five, she could imitate the flight of the yellow-bellied sapsucker." And that was even before her true talent was revealed--birdcalling! As the media flocks around the child wonder, th... More

"Agnes Peregrine, daughter of the well-known ornithologist, Professor Octavia Peregrine, was a real birdbrain. / At the age of three, Agnes could do the courtship dance of the blue-footed booby. / At the age of five, she could imitate the flight of the yellow-bellied sapsucker." And that was even before her true talent was revealed--birdcalling! As the media flocks around the child wonder, the World Bird Society votes to send 8-year-old Agnes and her mother to the far-off slopes of the Himalayan Mountains to try to lure (and therefore officially spot) the elusive pink-headed duck.

Little does the Peregrine team know that the crafty, conscience-challenged hunter Colonel Pittsnap would be waiting for Agnes in the mountains... waiting for her to lure the rare pink-headed duck into his conniving clutches! (Which, due to her peeping prowess, she accomplishes successfully.) As soon as the duck appears, Pittsnap catches it in his net and darts away. Needless to say, Agnes thinks this turn of events is for the birds. She charges after him, and, in a mighty confrontation on a distant slope, Agnes does what she does best--she calls hundreds of birds from all over the world to buzz, bombard, nip, poke, peck, and scold the colonel in a Hitchcock-like scene gracefully described as "feathered air."

Created by Candace Fleming and illustrator Giselle Potter (the same team behind the lovely, award-winning Gabriella's Song), When Agnes Caws shares its predecessor's timeless, magical quality as well as extraordinary artwork. Young readers will love the story of a can-do talented 8-year-old, as well as the endpapers that show a variety of bird species from the blue-footed booby to the now extinct pink-headed duck. ("The last official sighting was in 1936, but in the 1960s a group of bird-watchers claimed to have spotted one in Tibet.") Great bird sounds ("Cawaak! Caweek! Eek! Eek! Eek!"), high drama, and engaging, action-packed illustrations make this original picture book an excellent choice for story hour. (Ages 4 to 8) --Karin Snelson

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