I Am We: How Crows Come Together to Survive

Assonant, rhythmic prose from Barnard Booth (One Day This Tree Will Fall) and gothic paintings by Finkelday (On a Mushroom Day) work hand-in-hand to create a hypnotic group portrait of crows. First-person singular opening lines (“I am not I at all”) drive home the book’s emphasis on collectivity via a rapid shift to first-person plural (“one set of eyes/ isn’t nearly enough.// We feel it/ we all feel it,/ when the sun starts to set”). There’s an air of enchantment as text suggests, “We must sound like witches to you./ The ones from your tales./ The ones that cackle and cast evil spells,” before revealing the actual mechanics at play: “A spell that binds one to many/ and turns I to we.” Dramatic, smudgy renderings of the charcoal-colored subjects contrasted against twilit skies echo high-stakes descriptions of nighttime dangers and communal roosting (“We might stay alive/ if we cuddle,/ if we huddle”). Remarkably effective in transforming a murder of crows from a fearsome- to fearful-seeming grouping, the creators also underscore the uniquely effective manner in which the birds work collectively to endure. Back matter includes further information and an author’s note. Ages 5–8. (Sept.)