Cover Reveal: Terrible, Terrible Birds! by Betsy Bird, illustrated by Matthew Cordell (2/27)

I was a little surprised how often I got asked.

When I first started working at the Evanston Public Library in Illinois, it was known that I wrote the occasional children’s book on the side. And folks were nice about it. They didn’t ask me to give them my agent’s number or mind if I took some time off to do a little promotion. They did sometimes try to give me ideas for books, though, and one question came up repeatedly. “When are you going to write a book about them?” “When are they going to get a book?”

The them in question:

Look at them. Don’t they look capable? Squawker and Nona were a peregrine falcon couple. Years ago, they decided that the Evanston Public Library was the ideal location for raising falcon babies. There was good reason for this. The library’s design sported columns that dipped down into hollows that had been lined with rocks. In those cavities, falcons could easily go in and out, and the babies were protected by a roof from bad weather and rain. For that reason, this incredible pair was able to raise generation after generation of falcon babies. And every year we’d host a huge ceremony with the Field Museum where people would get to see the little floofs banded and named (and checked for disease as well).

But see, here’s the thing. Our falcons? They were way too good at what they did. I mean, what was I supposed to put in a book? “Once upon a time there were two very capable falcons who raised very capable babies, the end”? That’s not a story! And yes, we could probably have brought up the whole falcons-endangered-thanks-to-DDT aspect of their tale, but other picture books have covered that material sufficiently. Quite simply, I didn’t have a story to tell.

And then… the doofuses moved in.

Squawker and Nona couldn’t live forever and when they were gone a new pair came along.

His name (and I could not make this up if I tried) is Coach Kevin. Her name? She was an unnamed banded female, no name (though we later dubbed her “Teca”). They were young and had clearly never raised babies before.

Now prior to the arrival of these two I had been under the distinct impression that animals in the wild have these incredible, almost magical, instincts that tell them what to do. Raising babies? It’s like breathing for them. While we humans have to learn, other animals just naturally know. Right?

Wrong.

As it turns out, Coach Kevin and Teca were dumb as stumps when it came to raising chicks. And the more I watched their mistakes, the more furious I became. Furious, that is, until I realized two things at the very same time.

1. Animals have to learn how to do things, like parenting, just as much as humans do. There is no magical instinct that tells them what to do in a given moment.
2. I had my story.

Today, it is my delight and my honor to present the cover of my brand new picture book, out February 23, 2027. Terrible, Terrible Birds!: The (Mostly) True Story of Two Featherbrained Falcons Who Learned from Their Mistakes is written by me, Betsy Bird, and illustrated by Caldecott Award winner Matthew Cordell. Matthew was a natural choice for this manuscript. Not only did he have experience drawing raptors in his other books, but he even came to a banding ceremony to watch and take photographs:

The book recounts precisely the story I’ve just told you. It involves a lot of adults ranting and raving to the skies while the wiser children around them take the falcons’ side. And here, I am pleased to announce, is the rather gorgeous cover:

Yes. That’s me on the cover on the left. Kvetching. I could not be any more delighted.

Huge thanks to Caylee Gardner for helping to release this cover, as well as editor Rotem Moscovich. Thanks to Matthew for making this book absolutely brilliant (and for taking all those great photographs of our birds). Terrible, Terrible Birds! is out, as I mentioned, February 23, 2027. Pre-order your copy today!

Filed under: Best Books, Best Books of 2027, Cover Reveal