100 Books Like Mama Built a Little Nest

While developing Nest, I lived in the Presidio National Park. A plum tree grew right outside the kitchen window and I had a year-round view of the robins living there. Those backyard birds were magical - from their flying and singing to their feathers and eggs. Spending hours watching them while cooking inspired me to share their world with my world. I have a degree in art history from Princeton and a law degree from Stanford. I worked as a textile designer in New York before going out on my own as an author and artist. Currently, I share a studio with my architect-husband and I draw every day.

While developing Nest, I lived in the Presidio National Park. A plum tree grew right outside the kitchen window and I had a year-round view of the robins living there. Those backyard birds were magical - from their flying and singing to their feathers and eggs. Spending hours watching them while cooking inspired me to share their world with my world. I have a degree in art history from Princeton and a law degree from Stanford. I worked as a textile designer in New York before going out on my own as an author and artist. Currently, I share a studio with my architect-husband and I draw every day.

I began my career as an assistant nursery school teacher when I graduated from college. My head teacher was my mentor. She knew how to engage children with her storytelling. She also managed to inspire children with an enthusiasm for learning. She challenged each child to develop his/her own individual skills. I loved the way she was able to connect with children, and for me, she was the ideal role model. Throughout my teaching career, I tried to connect with the children I taught. My goal was to reach every child, to stimulate their desire for learning, and to help them develop positive self-esteem in a nurturing environment.

I am an art and architectural historian whose field also includes the histories of cities. My area of specialty is Africa. I am also a professor at Harvard who has lived in Cambridge, Ma. for over 30 years where I have become a civic leader, co-founding the Harvard Square Neighborhood Association to help bring improvements to the city and preserve historic buildings here. I teach a class on Harvard Square (and the city of Cambridge) and following January 6, I felt it was important to rethink the way we teach young people – encouraging them to understand the diversity of all our communities. 

I’m the author of more than 25 award-winning books for children, including Mama Built a Little Nest, illustrated by Steve Jenkins, and I Love Birds! 52 Ways to Wonder, Wander and Explore Birds with Kids, illustrated by Alexander Vidal. When not writing, I help rehabilitate injured and orphaned songbirds, I study bird behavior, and I further my knowledge about birds through books and scholarly journals. Birds offer a constant source of discovery and wonder. I hope the books I’ve recommended offer a source of discovery and wonder for your young readers, too!

My father was a life-long falconer. When I was a child, spending time with my father meant spending time with a menagerie of winged friends like goshawks, peregrine falcons, parrots, owls, and even vultures. I didn’t know it back then, but as I went hawking with my dad and helped him care for his beautiful birds, I was gathering a nest of passion and ideas for the writer and poet I would become. Today, I enjoy sharing my love of birds, nature, and books with children (and children at heart).

I’m an Australian zoologist, botanist, and best-selling prize-winning writer. An earlier book of mine, Feral Future, inspired the formation of the Invasive Species Council, an Australian conservation lobby group. My Where Song Began, was a best-seller that became the first nature book to win the Australian Book Industry Award for best General Non Fiction. It was republished in the US. I have co-edited Wildlife Australia magazine and written for many magazines and newspapers, including nature columns as well as features. As a teenager I discovered new lizard species, one of which was named after me.

My father was a life-long falconer. When I was a child, spending time with my father meant spending time with a menagerie of winged friends like goshawks, peregrine falcons, parrots, owls, and even vultures. I didn’t know it back then, but as I went hawking with my dad and helped him care for his beautiful birds, I was gathering a nest of passion and ideas for the writer and poet I would become. Today, I enjoy sharing my love of birds, nature, and books with children (and children at heart).

I’ve always been passionate about horses – in fact, I’ve adopted five wild mustangs over the years and ride often – so it’s no surprise that they often find their way into my stories. But birds and feathers tend to be important elements of my books, too. I live on a working family farm surrounded by hawks, bald eagles, blue herons, swans, owls, and countless others… but I suspect the true reason there are birds in my books has to do with the little sparrows who like to perch on my windowsill as I write!

We tell stories for many reasons, but one of the best reasons is to teach our kids (or remind ourselves!) how to navigate in the world. We’ve all read Aesop’s Fables and at the end, the moral lesson is spelled out. This ruins the conversations you can have with someone else about what the story was about. Instead of feeling entertained, we feel like we were being told what to think and how to feel. As a writer, I love to include multiple themes in a book so that, depending on the age of the reader, or how many times the story is read, new ideas jump out of the book and into your brain.