To Snakey. This is sort of how we met.

In a small corner of North Carolina, Mr. and Mrs. Kestrel were relaxing in their nest on a winter afternoon. Mrs. Kestrel turned her head. Below them a car engine stopped, car doors slammed, and there was a clatter of paint cans. Mrs. Kestrel moved over to help Mr. Kestrel catch a beetle with attitude. Mrs. Kestrel turned around just in time to hear squeaky hinges, then the terrifying sound of footfall on a ladder. Mr. and Mrs. Kestrel only knew what that sounded like from a previous encounter with a telephone repairman. The gutter cleaning man reached into what he thought was an empty nest, feeling around for leaves. Suddenly a hand shot into the nest. Mrs. Kestrel jumped back and Mr. Kestrel dropped the beetle he was eating. The hand grabbed Baby Kestrel and pulled him out of the nest. Mr. and Mrs. Kestrel jumped into the air, hovering helplessly above the nest before reluctantly flying away. Baby Kestrel landed in the snow with a small “sploosh” . . . lost, alone, and without his family.

Ally stared out the window into her back yard. She spied something blue and had a strange feeling it wasn’t supposed to be there. Silently, she sank into a vest, pulled on her gloves, then slipped on her boots and opened the back door. The stars shone in the cold winter night, but Ally didn’t care. She was too intent on finding the blue thing. Ally found the blue thing, but discovered it wasn’t a thing at all – it was a little blue-ish bird. She recognized the bird as an American Kestrel. The Baby Kestrel was hardly moving. “It’s okay,” Ally said gently as she carefully picked Baby Kestrel up.

Back inside, Ally placed Baby Kestrel in a cotton-filled strawberry basket. When tired, Baby Kestrel finally curled up to go to sleep. He didn’t even notice Ally’s falconer’s glove lying on the kitchen table.

The next morning, Baby Kestrel woke up to the delicious sound of crickets chirping. Baby Kestrel snapped up three crickets. Then he hopped out of the strawberry basket. Ally offered Baby Kestrel her gloved hand. He jumped on, but tried to fly off when Ally was slipping the leash onto his foot. Then Ally took him outside for some falconer and flight training. Later that night, Ally and Baby Kestrel stood together looking up at the full moon. As he cuddled against her, he knew he had found his family and he was not alone.

Zzzzzzzzzz. he kish.

he kish.

About the Author

Phoebe Sarles is in Mrs. Mattson’s 3rd grade class at the Hosmer School in Watertown. It has been a lot of fun making these books. Besides doing crafts I also enjoy watching TV, playing outside, and playing with my pet snake, Snakey.

This is one of the many books that came to life while students in Mrs.

Mattson’s 3rd grade class explored the rich relationship between visual imagery

and the written word. This book was created as a part of Image-Making Within

the Writing Process, a dynamic art-and-literature-based approach to writing

developed by Beth Olshansky at the University of New Hampshire. Image-

Making uses hand-painted textured papers as the raw materials for creating

collage stories and poetry. Unlike a more traditional writing process, within

Image-Making the pictures always come first. This offers students with diverse

learning styles essential visual and kinesthetic tools for rehearsing, drafting,

and revising their ideas long before setting pencil to paper. Image-Making was

validated by the US Department of Education as an “innovative and effective

literacy program” in 1993. Today children around the world use this process to

create books in many languages.

Spring, 2010