Are you looking for books that help children connect with nature?  You will most likely find them in the non-fiction section.  Boring facts, boring narrative, and a photograph every other page describe the typical non-fiction children's book. We remember reading them as a child. A new generation of childrens book, however, is beginning to appear on bookshelves in libraries and bookstores. It reads like fiction and uses a believable yet captivating storyline to scatter the book with pertinent facts. This combination is called "creative non-fiction."

"My name is Samantha and I love telling stories."

In her Hummingbird Series, Barbara Kurtz takes "creative non-fiction" a few steps further; her characters are the storytellers.  In A Hummingbird's Story: How I Came to Be, Samantha, a juvenile female hummingbird tells the story of how she entered this world and the skills she had to learn so she could fledge and leave the nest.    Her delightful account causes children to connect with her instantly, making learning about nature motivating and  FUN!

'I knew if I beeped Mom would come feed me."

Most children have seen an empty nest in a tree or one that has fallen to the ground surrounded by broken pieces of egg shell.  How many were lucky enough to see the beauty of nature that took place inside the nest before it became useless?  Barbara Kurtz' vivid photographs provide children with a front row seat to view these wonders of nature.  Studies support these unique photographed storybooks.  “It’s easier for toddlers to learn about real objects from photographs than from illustrations,” says Gabrielle Simcock, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Queensland, in Australia.  Experience the first few pages of Samantha's story and Sebastian's story and see if you don't agree.