Around the World in 80 Birds

I’d already loved ‘Around the World in 80 Trees’ in this loose series from Laurence King Publishing and was really looking forward to this one, so much I popped into work on my holiday to pick it up as soon as I found out it was there.

I was immediately enthralled by the beautifully shining illustrations from Ryuto Mikaye, turning each bird into a masterpiece of flow and movement on the page.

The book follows the formula of the previous two ‘Around the World in 80…’ books and explores a small selection of birds from around the world in the context of their importance, interaction with humans, rarity, or some other factor chosen by the author. Hopefully some just because of how beautiful they are!

A couple of the birds I enjoyed reading about the most are both extremely strange little beasts. The Resplendent Quatzal is such a beautifully colourful bird linked with a lot of South American mythology and I’ve always been fascinated by it. The other is the Crested Caracara which we were told is really intelligent and curious, but has become a pest in certain areas of Central America, raiding houses by going down chimneys and opening doors and windows.

Small chapters make this series a perfect bedside book, dipping into at night for a relaxing read, though it never really works like that as I again devoured this whole book in one sitting.

Always look forward to this series and waiting for the next one.