This is a wonderful nature book for children. In it, they will learn about the Citizen Scientists' Christmas Bird Count. The reader watches as a young girl, her mom and Big Al go out on a cold winter's day to record all of the birds that they see; the reader learns about how the count takes place as, for example, a bird must be seen by at least two people for it to be counted. Along the way, there are facts about different birds and their calls; the birds can easily be found in the appealing illustrations.

There is bonus content at the end of the book. Information is there about both the birds and the author. There is also a section on additional resources.

This is a very good book for children who would like to know more about birds. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e book in exchange for an honest review.

I received this ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a neat fiction introduction to citizen science. It's a short story of a girl and her family who participate in an annual birding census. The illustrations do a great job showing the birds they find and the field guide at the end is a nice touch.

I read this with my 7 year old bird lover, Fiona, who keeps logs of the birds she sees each month in her copy of Wild Kids Magazine (a free printable nature magazine I put online). She also takes part in bird counts with her dad, so I knew this would be a hit.

The subject is a little girl who takes part in the Great Christmas Bird Count by going out birding with her mom and a local man who is another bird lover. They record all the birds they see and hear as they drive to various areas. She writes each bird and puts a tally next to it. Kids are introduced to not just the looks but the sounds and behaviors of birds like redtailed hawks, catbirds, ravens, mockingbirds, mallards and turkey vultures.

We live in a more rural area and maybe that's why, but I never heard that you were supposed to take part with a group of other people and have a "circle leader." We don't get together with other groups at the end of the count for a party either, which sounds like fun for people in busy areas. We also follow slightly different rules for how to count birds. For instance, in the book they see 5 Canadian geese and mark them down, and then later they see 5 and don't mark them because it's the same number so it may be the same 5, whereas we follow the rule that you just mark down the highest number of any type of birds you see at one time, and we don't require that more than one person in the group has to see each bird you count.

The book got a little monotonous at times but provided good information. Kids who are not interested in birds or taking part in a bird count may get a little glassy eyed. The illustrations are sweet and well done. The bird information and illustrations are great.

This would be a great addition to a nature study library and is also simply a fun read-aloud.

My rating system:
1 = hated it
2 = it was okay
3 = liked it
4 = really liked it
5 = love it, plan to purchase, and/or would buy it again if it was lost

I read a temporary digital ARC of the book for the purpose of review.

This book was very informative and fun. As the characters go on a bird count, we get details about different birds. We learn some of the sounds they make, migration patterns and what they eat. While it is informative, it is also fun to find how many of each bird there are on the pages.

This is an interesting picture book about a subject I've never seen covered in a children's book before: bird counts. In Bird Count, the young protagonist, Ava, participates in the Christmas Bird Count with her mother and their friend, Big Al. Proper procedure is followed (which is interesting) and there's a growing tally that runs along the right-hand side of the pages as the trio sees or hears various birds in the world around them.

I can't really find much to complain about here. The birds are easy to pick out and match the running tally. At the end of the book, there are descriptions of each of the birds mentioned, and though I do wish there had been pictures to go with each description, I guess that's something readers could look up later. (Speaking of looking up, though, I noticed a typo in the URL for The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Hopefully that will be fixed before the final version comes out.)

This would be a great book for kids who like birds, or for readers who like books where they have to pick stuff out in the illustrations. There's lots of information here about birds, and the story might even inspire some readers to join a bird count themselves.

I have a household and classroom full of bird lovers. Bird Count will certainly delight them! Bird Count covers different types of birds discovered on Christmas Bird Count day. Nonfiction ideas in a fiction picture book and I loved it. My favorite part of the book was the journal notes on the side of each page. I am hopeful that this encourages a new batch of citizen scientists doing clever and helpful research through a bird count of their own. Love!

I wasn't sure about this book when I first looked at it, but I was surprised to find I really enjoyed it. In addition to introducing readers to a lot of different birds, the book also deals with counting and addition. It could encourage kids to go out and create a bird tally of their own.

I couldn't have requested this fast enough and I was so glad when I was approved. We are so fortunate in our house to have many windows to watch the birds and animals go about their daily activities. My 2 year old daughter LOVES birds. I'm happy to say this book is wonderful for her and encourages adult/child together time as well!

Ava and her mother participate in the Christmas Bird Count each year. They head out early in the morning with a group and mark down all the birds they see. The illustrations are wonderful (the birds look real) and assist in helping to cement the names to the type of bird it is.

There are so many things to love about this book. 1) An appreciation for nature and the world around us 2) I had no idea the CBC existed and I would love to become involved as a citizen scientist 3) Learning about birds 4) I loved the summary of each bird found in the book at the end. It highlighted educational things that I wasn't always aware of and lastly, 4) the author's note. I really enjoyed learning about the author's inspiration for the book and her history of the CBC!

I highly encourage you check this book out. Read it to your kids! Give it away as a gift. It's a great way to get outside (or look outside when it's too cold) and appreciate the world around us! **(I will make a quick sidenote: while this book is great for anyone, it specifically mentions birds in the Northeast US, so if you live outside that area it might not be as exciting because those birds aren't local to you. I live in Buffalo, NY so the birds present in this book are birds we see everyday!)

Thank you to Netgalley, Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC & Susan Edwards Richmond for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this adorable book!

Review Date: 5/8/19
Publication Date: 10/1/19

Bird Count is an amazingly informative and engaging children's picture book with the most gorgeous illustrations. Our family also lives in New England and we are big into back yard "birding". Bird Count is the story of the annual "bird count" where neighbors get together as citizen scientists to gather information about the bird species in their town.

Our two children loved reading this book with me and especially enjoyed it because all the books that Ava identified on her bird count, we are able to see around here too. They loved seeing Ava, her mom and Big Al visit the fields, woods, wetlands, neighbors, and center of town to see the different types of bird activity in those areas.

This book is the perfect balance of bird information along with a sweet and engaging story that looks at the world around us. We have already pre-ordered this book and can't wait to add a hard copy of this book to our home library collection this fall.

Thank you to NetGalley and Peachtree Publishing Group for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.