The Golden Eagle. With its gorgeous pictures and gripping storyline, it drew us in. “I think I’m going to like this even more than The Butterfly Lion,” said one child. Just by chance, all three books we read during this edition of my book club featured animals. Manolita has seals; the title The Butterfly Lion says it all – butterflies and lions; The Golden Eagle has a profusion of birds. Many of the children have never seen storks, ospreys, harriers, green pigeons and thrushes, and the book brought these alive to us. It was time for a follow-up activity, one that we threw our hearts into. What birds would you like to talk to us about? That was the only question I asked the children at my book club.
“I hope to go to Zimbabwe someday and see the African Fish Eagle,” said Amritayu. Eagles fascinate him, and even more so because of the book we read on the golden eagle.
“The yellow-footed green pigeon is the state bird of Maharashtra,” said Sohum. I suggested this to them last week – each of them could talk about their state bird since they join from four different states. Sohum, signing in from Mumbai, did just that.
“The emerald dove is the state bird of Tamil Nadu,” Siddharth told us. Even though he now lives in Karnataka, he was in Madurai until 2021, and the emerald dove, rather than the Indian Roller, was the one he chose to share with us. “I’ve never seen one, but I would love to!”
Sangam told us about the peacock, our national bird. “From my grandparents’ place in Sivakasi, I see so many peacocks, and they’re beautiful. We even have a game we play about peacocks as we watch them fly away.”
Escaping to the jungle and going birdwatching in Bhigwan drew me to learning about birds and starting to identify them, but books like The Golden Eagle make me think – perhaps literature can help us take the first steps too!
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