Crows are a really common neighborhood and city bird, and one that children and adults can easily observe together, so this realistic picture book showing crow behavior around urban/suburban humans and human environments fills a useful niche. Narrating from the perspective a crow, the author depicts small group interactions and also the winter 'crow invasion' that brings large groups of crows into cities and towns to roost together. (That depiction of the 'crow invasion' may be a little scary for younger kids who haven't experienced it yet, so the reader may need to remind them that roosting is only for the winter!) The illustrations are excellent, and the rhyming is solid, though typography on some pages, designed to mimic the birds' movement, may be a stumbling block for easy read-aloud.
Grab this book and read it with a kid you've watched crows in the fast food parking lot with! ( )

If I had a classroom, I would be so excited to share this with the kids, and then go for a walk and find crows to observe. Even so, it's a keeper, for my (hypothetical) grandchildren. I'd give it 4.5 stars, but I round up because it deserves a much higher community average rating.

Notes in response to other reviewers:

The meter is perfect if you read dramatically and allow pauses for punctuation (ie, half a beat for a comma or a capitalized word, a full beat for a period). The rhyme stretches only a little in just a couple of places.

There's enough information, but there's also some fun, and it's actually brief and concise for its intended audience. Its not for the youngest or the squirmiest tots.

Vocabulary words include corvid and cache. ( )

school age ( )