It's summertime, and as darkness falls there is a haunting sound from the lake -- Ooh-hoo-oo, ooh-hoo-oo. It is a loon calling to its family across the water.

This lyrical story follows the life cycle of two loon chicks. We see them breaking out of their eggshells, then learning to swim, find food and avoid predators such as snapping turtles and big bass fish. After they learn to fly, they migrate to the ocean. And when their striking black-and-white feathers finally emerge, they fly inland, each to find a new lake territory and mate.

Accompanying Susan Vande Griek's poetic text are Karen Reczuch's gorgeous illustrations, which show the loons as they grow from tiny downy chicks to majestic adult birds. An afterword provides more information on loons, including their amazing diving ability, the meanings of their calls, and the environmental threats that they face. Also illustrated are five different types of loons and other animals that can be found in their lake habitat. The illustrations were researched in the Ornithology Collections at the Royal Ontario Museum, and Ron Ridout of Bird Studies Canada consulted on the text.

Key Text Features
illustrations
author's note
further reading
labels

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1.5
Explain major differences between books that tell stories and books that give information, drawing on a wide reading of a range of text types.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7
Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).