“I don’t know.” Sadie reached into her back pocket for the well-worn guide Ms. M had left her. “But I’ll find out.”
Ms. M’s Birding Tips
Go outside! Whether you are in New Zealand or New Jersey, a park or a parking lot, chances are, birds are there.
Although birders are sometimes called “twitchers,” try to stay still and quiet. Pretend you’re a tree. A blue jay might land on you. Or pretend you’re a statue. A pigeon might . . . well, maybe not a statue.
There’s more to birding than watching. Don’t forget to listen. You might hear a chickadee introducing himself—chicka dee dee dee—or a pileated woodpecker drumming on a pine.
Everyone enjoys a snack. Set up a feeder in your backyard or on your apartment balcony and watch customers flock to the Happy Beak Café.
Speaking of snacks, cats do more than watch. It’s best to keep kitty indoors.
Field guides are handy, and not just in fields. Who was that dapper orange fellow with the black wings singing outside the window during math class? A good field guide will tell you—after you finish your quiz, dear.
Find a comfortable backpack or satchel to carry gear such as binoculars, notebooks, pencils, and—if you’ll be out walking for a while—water and a sack lunch. Unless you prefer writing your field notes in invisible ink, leave the wolfsbane home.
If you’re feeling artistic, try drawing what you see. Sometimes I’m in a hurry and settle for little hints: that sparrow had a ring around its eye; that one had a notch in its tail. Anybody can draw an eye or a tail!
Birding alone is nice. Birding with a friend can be splendid.
A life list is just that—birds I’ve seen for as long as I’ve been birding. My life list is like a diary or a journal. I can look back and remember where I was when I saw my first bird, a house finch. I remember his red head and cheerful song. And when he flew, he bounced like a small plane in rough air.
Are you starting a life list? Good for you! What lucky bird will be first?
Have You Seen This Bird?
Female yellow warbler (Setophaga petechia). Answers to the name Ethel.
Alert, round black eyes.
Beak like a sharpened pencil.
Dandelion-yellow face and body, darker wings and tail. Male warblers have rust-colored streaks on their chests, but Ethel’s chest should be unstreaked, unless she’s been eating barbecued spiders!
Last seen in Milwaukee, but could be anywhere in North America or, in colder months, as far south as Mexico or even Peru.
Likely nesting near marshland in willows, alders, lilacs, or raspberry bushes.
May or may not have a mate (the gentleman with the streaks).
Should be wearing her spectacles, but probably not.
If found, please contact:
Sadie or Ms. M
c/o The playhouse
Sadie’s backyard
U.S.A.
Magic Books
Brandt, Deanna. Bird Log Kids: A Kid’s Journal to Record Their Birding Experiences. Cambridge, MA: Adventure Publications, 1998.
Cate, Annette LeBlanc. Look Up!: Bird-Watching in Your Own Backyard. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2013.
Stokes, Donald, and Lillian Stokes. Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Birds: Eastern Region, and (separate volume), Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Birds: Western Region. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1996.
Magic Link
Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, www.allaboutbirds.org
Sadie’s Birds
black-capped chickadee
blue jay
Canada goose
cardinal
cedar waxwing
common loon
crow
eastern meadowlark
emperor penguin
grackle
great blue heron
great horned owl
grebe
kestrel
mourning dove
nuthatch
oriole
ostrich
peacock
pigeon (Columba livia)
red-winged blackbird
ring-necked pheasant
robin
shrike
song sparrow
swallow
wren
About the Authors and Illustrator
CHRISTINE HEPPERMANN and RON KOERTGE are the authors of acclaimed young adult books and are writing for young readers for the first time. After meeting through Hamline University’s MFA program, they decided to collaborate. Christine lives in New York, and Ron lives in California, so they work most of their magic long-distance.
www.christineheppermann.com
www.ronkoertge.com
DEBORAH MARCERO holds degrees in drawing and photography from the University of Michigan and an MFA in poetry from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This is her first book.
www.deborahmarcero.com
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Credits
Cover art © 2015 by Deborah Marcero
Cover design by Sylvie Le Floc’h
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the authors’ imaginations and are not to be construed as real.
BACKYARD WITCH: SADIE’S STORY. Text copyright © 2015 by Christine Heppermann and Ron Koertge; illustrations copyright © 2015 by Deborah Marcero. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Book design by Sylvie Le Floc’h
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Heppermann, Christine, author.
Sadie’s story / by Christine Heppermann and Ron Koertge ; pictures by Deborah Marcero.
pages cm.—(Backyard witch)
“Greenwillow Books.”
Summary: When her two best friends take a vacation without her, nine-year-old Sadie meets a witch who takes her on a bird-watching adventure. Includes birding tips.
ISBN 978-0-06-233838-9 (trade ed.)
EPub Edition © July 2015 ISBN 9780062338402
[1. Friendship—Fiction. 2. Witches—Fiction. 3. Bird watching—Fiction.] I. Koertge, Ronald, author. II. Marcero, Deborah, illustrator. III. Title.
PZ7.1.H47Sad 2015 [Fic]—dc23 2014029443
15 16 17 18 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
Greenwillow Books
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