Crow Not Crow

The Yolen-Stemples are a family of birdwatchers. (I must admit I am the least of them.having been a city girl the first fourteen years of my life.) My late husband David Stemple grew up in the mountains of West Virginia. And our three children began early, because David (“Pa” in OWL MOON) taught them how to bird. And when Adam taught his soon-to-be wife Betsy how to bird (she was another city girl), he invented the ‘Crow Not Crow’ method. I waited for years for Adam—a writer himself–to write that picture book. But his strength is novel writing, despite the fact that he’s also a poet and a writer of fine lyrics for his various bands. So I showed him how to do it by writing the book with him. The pictures are by Elizabeth Dulemba who is an American right now living in Edinburgh, Scotland. It’s the first of my books with her. (I asked for her specifically for the project.) She is illustrating some other bird books of mine for Cornell as well as a board book about a mer baby that I wrote for Simon& Schuster.

What reviewers have said:

• “A solid choice for introducing the hobby to younger readers.” ― Kirkus
• “…a great way to introduce the concepts of birding.” — Mother/Daughter Bookclub
• “Jane Yolen is one of the best picture book authors alive, so I was particularly pleased that this book did not disappoint me. Like most of her books, it is quiet and has a powerful force behind it. It lends itself to a ‘crow not crow’ type of game with children that would be quite fun. I will be purchasing this book as a gift for several friends. It’s beautifully done.” — Unleashing Readers
• “I loved Crow Not Crow as a mother, as a birding novice and as a teacher. This is the perfect book to use for a STEM science lesson for the classroom or even as an interactive library lesson for small group discussions. Once you finish the story, the last 5 pages are filled with bird facts and QR codes!” — I’d So Rather Be Reading.com