The Birdwatchers

by Simon James

A grandfather shares with his grandchild the quiet wonder of birdwatching - and a wry talent for telling a tall tale.


"When I go birdwatching, things happen," Granddad tells little Jess. Sometimes, he says, while he’s drawing pictures of the birds, they draw
pictures of him. And sometimes they help him out by finding their own names in his bird book. "Birds are amazing," says Granddad, but Jess isn’t so sure. So one day she goes birdwatching with Granddad to see for herself.

With expressive line-and-wash drawings, Simon James captures the leafy grandeur of the outdoors and the warm, special rapport between a child and a granddad, illustrating once again the huge happiness to be found in little things.

Genres: Picture Books, Birds, Nature, Childrens, Family, Animals, Fiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2002

About the author

Simon James is the award-winning author-illustrator of many children’s books, including such favorites as DEAR GREENPEACE, LEON AND BOB, and the Baby Brains series. His stories often concern a child’s relationship with the natural world. Simon James lives in England.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ryan loves birds, and this is a simple but sweet story about a young girl's birdwatching trip with her grandfather. Her granddad has raised her expectations a bit with some tall tales, but she enjoys herself in the end and even teases her grandfather with a tall tale of her own. I really like the ink-and-watercolor illustrations.

[babyhippoface · Rating 4 out of 5]

The birdwatching is secondary to the relationship between Jess and her grandfather in this picture book. The older man always has such amazing stories of his adventures while birdwatching that Jess decides to give it a try. She is surprised by what she does not see as well as by what she does. I like his sense of humor, myself.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the use of imagination by the characters in this book, the way the Grandfather shares a favorite pastime with the Granddaughter, and particularly the ending. I loved sharing this with my animal-loving niece Sharon and her brother Adam

[Kate Matheis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was super cute! It had adorable pictures, a cute story, and a nice message. In the story the boy hears all the grandpa's stories about bird watching. He makes up stories about him drawing the birds and the birds drawing him. The boy comes along to see for himself and he makes up his own story about dancing penguins.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot! Short and sweet, with lovely illustrations. Fun introduction to the magic of birding. I thought it funny and clever that the grandchild’s interpretation of the grandfather’s birding stories was like an exaggerated “fish tale,” with the last line being a perfect birder response to her attempt at one of her own.

[Whole And · Rating 5 out of 5]

A special granddad teaches his granddaughter to go Birdwatching, identifying the birds they see, learning to use binoculars and making notes and drawings all mixed in with a little imaginations. A sweet tale that can also be used as a teaching tool.

[Manu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maxwell: 3 stars: it was really cute. And I like it a lot when Jess told grandad about her favorite part “when the dancing penguins came and shared my sandwich” and her grandad was like “whaaaa? Dancing penguins?!”

[Gail Gauthier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent grandfather story. I liked the color used in the illustrations, as well.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute.

[sincerely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute!

[Emily]

An adventure with her grandfather. Simple, sweet story. Loved the illustrations.

[Stefany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this one for my bird storytime. It's a cute story about Jess and her Granddad. He tells cute "stories" about when he goes birdwatching, and he takes Jess along with him one day. So much fun!

[Kendall Lentine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was such a sweet book filled with pictures that portrayed kindness, love, and simplicity. The illustrations are beautiful and the touching relationship between a Grandfather and his grandson warmed my heart. This book displayed the bond filled with enrichment adventures, descriptive storytelling, and a bunch of colorful birds. I would consider this book to be a k-4 book as well as a picture book. Some pages are completely filled with an illustration, while others have a few sentences. The target age for this book, in my opinion, would be 1st-2nd grade. I rated this book 5 stars due to message of love for all, especially animals. The book is well structured and the characters truly portray the feelings, which helps with grasping the flow of book. The dominate themes that carried throughout this book would be respect and love. Respect is carried by valuing nature, while love is carried throughout the book by valuing time spent with each other. Overall, this book was truly a great one to grab for a quick yet educational experience with a little one!

[Eva Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the BEST BOOK EVER for two reasons. One is that it's just fun to sit in the woods or on the porch and see all the birds. You kinda have to shut up but you know what happens? First you hear them singing a little, then a little more, and then a LOT, and then a LOT MORE. And pretty soon they're all over the place, singing their heads off. But shut up or else they'll fly off.
What's the other thing? Oh, yeah! The other good thing in this book is going ANYPLACE with your grandpa. He's the best in this book, and he's the best in our family. I'm glad we have boys in our family. Mikey is gonna need someone to talk to, so it's a good thing we have two grandpas.
Grandpa Rich and me don't go birdwatching, but he takes me for donuts. But that's in Boston. There aren't as many birds there.
Anyway, those two things make this a GREAT one!!!

[Ashley Stone]

This is a book about imagination. The main character in the book is a young girl who goes on a bird-watching trip with her grandfather, who has quite a wild imagination. He tells her stories about what he and the birds do when he goes. His stories are pretty outlandish so the girl decides to go and see for herself. She realizes along the way that the only way to see that her grandfather is telling the truth is by using her own imagination.
This book was okay for story-time or something along those lines but I also feel like the book lacked fun or something. I can’t quite put a finger on it. I liked it but I don’t know that I’d use it for any purpose other than reading to the children. If it were to be used in a theme, I would use it for birds or imagination.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Birdwatchers by Simon James is a simple, sweet story about the kindness between a granddaughter and her grandfather, expressed through their love of the outdoors and bird watching. The illustrations are whimsical and inviting! As a teacher I would use this book with the recourse model, Text User, to help and guide students to understand that we read for purpose. I would introduce a science center about birds and new bird names; then I would ask students to write in their journals about birds and the outdoors. I love the outdoors and I believe this book helps young children reflect on writing in other environments, not just the classroom!

[Dolly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story about a grandfather and granddaughter who go on a day of birdwatching. Jess's grandfather tells her all kinds of tall tales about his birdwatching experiences, and in the end, she has a tale to tell of her own. It's a short, heartwarming story and the illustrations are marvelous.

We've read several books by Simon James recently and we really like his imagination, subtle humor and whimsical style. We will certainly look for more of his books at our local library.

[Lauren Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book was really good. I liked the ending. It was about a young girl who goes birdwatching with her grandfather. At first she can't see any birds but then she sees a lot of them. On the way back her grandfather asks her what she liked most about going and she said the dancing penguins. Then as they walk back the penguins are following them down the walkway. It was funny because her grandfather dosen't believe her. I would recommend it to others. It was great.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is beautifully illustrated, very much in the style of Quentin Blake (I picked this up thinking it was in fact illustrated by the great QB). I however found the story a little lacklustre , it is from the perspective of a child but it actually read like a child had written it. The illustrations really are lovely though.

[JaNeal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book about connecting the generations (grandfather-grandchild) and connecting with nature. The flap said it was the grandchild was a girl, but I think the author-illustrator purposely left it vague with the name "Jess" and a barely-long haircut. Either way, the book is delightful. I'm becoming a Simon James fan but still have more to read before I'm a die-hard.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this were a bit more concrete, introducing kids to bird watching. An informative author's note, some labeled drawings, etc. I wanted it to be more like Jody's Beans but for birding. This was nice, but I don't see it hooking any kids.

[Jennesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Birdwatchers allows kids to have an imagination and have fun with it. This would be a great, awesome, fantastic writing prompt. When you go bird watching, what kinds of things do you see? If you have never gone bird watching what kinds of things do you think happen?

[Mikayla Mackert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an adorable book about a young girl who likes to go bird watching with her grandfather. It has beatiful illustrations on every page. I think children of all ages will really like this book. It is a fun story that everyone can enjoy. I would recommend it to anyone.

[Kathy Ellen Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute story about birdwatching, imagination, and a day with Grandpa.
Nice illustrations...I love the page with all the birds!

Haiku Review, written from the POV of the Grandpa:

"One time, birdwatching,
the birds drew pictures of me
you should come and see."

[TwoDrinks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the illustrations in this book and the tale was about imagination and how twitching - traditionally seen as a bit dull - is used as the basis for the story. Nowt much happens, other than tall tales but it's quite a charming story.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful children's picture book. Jess's grandfather is a birdwatcher, and tells her wonderful stories about the birds to convince her to go birdwatching with him. She does, with remarkable results.

[Constance · Rating 5 out of 5]

I changed my rating from 4 to 5 stars, after reading it to a couple of groups of 5 year olds. Another sweet book by Simon James.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute short book. Glad I borrowed it from the library. Wouldn't mind owning a copy, but I dont need to go out and buy it.

[Niki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adorable! I really liked the interplay between Grandfather and grandchild. My daughter also really liked the illustrations.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute book about teaching the joys of twitching to the younger generation.

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