Animal Picture Books by Sy Montgomery: Brave Baby Hummingbird, Inky’s Amazing Escape, and The Seagull and the Sea Captain

Sy Montgomery goes the distance to report on wonders of the animal world.

Brave Baby Hummingbird by Sy Montgomery, illustrated by Tiffany Bozik. Paula Wiseman Books (Simon & Schuster), 2024, 40 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Books, ages 4-8

Recommended for: ages 5-10

“Like a bubble wrapped in feathers” is how the author describes this tiny creature. We meet two tiny Allen’s hummingbirds in their quarter-sized next shortly after they’ve hatched from eggs no larger than navy beans. Their only instinct is to wait for the puff of wind that indicates their mother has arrived with food, but soon she doesn’t appear. The orphaned birds are taken in by a rescuer who blows gently to get them to raise their heads and feeds them from a medicine dropper. They are reared in a cage, learning new skills by the hour, until ready to zoom out into the wild.

Readers will learn amazing facts about these creatures: the only birds that can hover, fly backwards and forwards, and even flip upside-down. The story is told in first-person from one bird’s perspective, which encompasses the full cycle of growth, migration, and mating. Lavish full-color illustrations add to the appeal.

Overall Rating: 4.25 (out of 5)

Inky’s Amazing Escape: How a Very Smart Octopus Found His Way Home by Sy Montgomery, illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford. Paula Wiseman (S&S), 2018, 32 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 4-8

Recommended for: ages 4-10

“The baby octopus hatched out of an egg the size of a grain of rice.” Soon after, he was swept away on an ocean current to survive on his own, which his species is equipped to do: “They’re born ready to explore.” This little explorer tasted everything in his part of the sea, developing a particular fondness for shellfish. An unfortunate encounter with a moray eel lost him two arms but didn’t slow him down. One day he squeezed into a lobster trap to devour the occupant and didn’t squeeze out fast enough. The New Zealand lobsterman who hauled him up noticed his missing arms and delivered him to the nearest aquarium—the setting for a truly amazing escape.

Octopuses are amazing in themselves, with extraordinary emotional and intellectual capacity. Montgomery wrote about them in depth in her best-seller for adults, The Soul of an Octopus. But youngsters will enjoy this story, colorfully illustrated in collage-style, while learning a lot about this most excellent mollusk.

Overall Rating: 4.25

The Seagull and the Sea Captain by Sy Montgomery, illustrated by Amy Schimler-Safford. Paula Wiseman (S&S), 2022, 32 pages.

Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 4-8

Recommended for: ages 3-8

“On a bright, blue-sky day, a sea captain steered his family’s schooner out of Gloucester Harbor, riding the wind on the boat’s four tall, white sails.” The schooner usually carries a complement of tourists sight-seeing along the Massachusetts coast. The neighboring gulls always seem interested, for where there are people, there are also French fries! But on this particular day, one gull seems especially curious. The boat with its sparkling white sails is a bit like a bird, after all: “The sails caught the wind just like his own strong, outspread wings.” He swooped closer, eventually landing on the stern right next to the captain. As he tossed the gull an oyster cracker, the captain noticed his visitor was missing one of the three toes on his right foot. Which made him easy to recognize the next day when he came back for another cracker. And the next, and the next, and even the following summer, after a long New England winter.

For all the vast body of human knowledge, there’s so much we don’t know about the animals we share earth with. The inexplicable bond some animals form with humans is a mystery—how much do they understand about us? This unique friendship, begun in 2013 and continuing to the present day, makes for a charming story even the youngest readers with eat up.

Overall Rating: 4.25

Read more about our ratings here.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: Sy Montgomery is a go-to author for animal-lovers. See our reviews of The Hyena Scientist and The Book of Turtles. Steve Jenkins is another name to watch for his exquisitely detailed illustrations of the animals kingdom. For example, The Beetle Book (starred review)and The Animal Book.
• Resource: See our list of Bird Books for Kids!  

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