This book is one of the (comparatively) rare non-fiction books in Calliope’s Library. Like many educational Latin novellas, it uses simple grammar and repetitive phrases to allow readers to practice their basic Latin reading skills. One of the goals of this book is to build vocabulary for Cicero’s De Divinatione, so some of the words are a little obscure. That doesn’t matter, though, because author Emma Vanderpool makes use of good picturebook pedagogy, and describes images of the various birds so that the reader can figure out a lot of the vocab without needing to look it up in the glossary. The book mixes modern photos of the birds with ancient mosaics, vase paintings, and frescos, so that readers can see both familiar images and ancient visions of all the different kinds of birds. Each mini chapter focuses on a different species of bird. Especially fun are the Latin words for the sounds each bird makes. I must admit that I looked up videos of each bird to compare their calls with the Latin sound words. It was far more fun than an educational Latin novella should be. The Latin is fairly simple but paired with the unfamiliar vocabulary it makes a slightly challenging novella. I’d recommend this novel for Latin students who are at least a year into their Latin study, or maybe late first semester College students. 

This book is the first in Bolchazy-Carducci’s “Birds” series, books that  center on the theme of augury. The next book in the series is the Encounter Latin novella Augury is for the Birds. – Krishni Burns