Organized from sunrise to sunset, this collection of poems and photographs presents the great egret, a striking-looking migratory bird. Each double-page spread offers a short poem, one or more photos of egrets in the wild, and a paragraph about some characteristic or behavior mentioned in the verse. For example, the poem "On the Hunt," which portrays the egret as a predator, is accompanied by three photos that show a bird finding and catching a fish as well as a discussion of what egrets eat and how they catch their prey. Varied in form, the spare, well-crafted poems make excellent use of simile and metaphor, as in these lines (from "Great Egret"): "The Great Egret's wings / are like fresh sheets / hung out upon a line; / its neck is a telescope; / beak as sharp and fine/ as a fisherman's gutting knife." The beautifully lit and composed photographs offer memorable images of the birds and their wetland habitat.

Poetry and short informative paragraphs combine to celebrate both the elegance and the natural history of the American egret. Haiku, free verse, rhyming couplets and even a limerick are just some of the forms Yolen masterfully uses to engage readers on both aesthetic and scientific levels. Gorgeous photography completes this carefully designed literary science piece with scenes of the egret's daily life. Stemple captures the egret's movements as the light of each part of the day, from the yellow-orange glow of sunrise to midday pink to late afternoon sunset blue to evening purple, is reflected on its snow-white feathers. Both the poetry and the brief fact-filled vignettes explain how egrets walk, eat, fly and preen and how their plumes, so lace-like, were once coveted for decorating clothes and hats. A final poem muses on the future of this great wading bird in a country filled with polluted wetlands. A stunning combination of scientific and ecological knowledge offered through a graceful fusion of lyrical and visual media. (Informational picture book/poetry. 8-10)

Gr 3-5 The daily activities of the Great Egret are described in verse and narrative. Stunning full-color photographs illustrate such topics as preening, plumes, flight, size, and nesting. For example, "On the Hunt/ What Do Egrets Eat? " informs readers that egrets are known as "ambush predators" that silently wait for their prey to come to them. This characteristic is poetically described as, "He is a world-class waiter,/Waiting (and wading)/In the muddied water/Till a shadow below/Lets him know that a fish/Is near. Then SPLISH-/SPLASH, that knife-sharp beak/breaks the surface/and brings back a surfeit:/Breakfast, lunch, dinner./Almost every strike a winner." The accompanying three photographs show the bird wading, striking and splashing the water, and holding a captured fish in its beak. A two-page close-up of its feather illustrates the chapter on plumes, and the Great Egret's large black feet are contrasted with the smaller golden feet of the Snowy Egret in text and art for the poem "Some Feet." Every spread features an informative paragraph, a vivid poem, and photographs sparkling with glossy details. Frances E. Millhouser, formerly at Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA