High in the sky, a peregrine falcon joins her mate for some swooping and diving before returning to her nest to guard her eggs. The couple doesn't know it yet, but they will lose most of these eggs - the first clutch to a volunteer scaling the cliff, and the next to the harmful effects of DDT. Told against the backdrop of scientists' efforts to understand the raptors' decline in the wild, this illustrated non-fiction book tells the story of several generations of falcons as they're taken to a sanctuary, reintegrated into the wild, and ultimately relocated to the ledge of a city skyscraper. With dynamic oil illustrations, author and wildlife artist Celia Godkin effortlessly captures the detail of the falcons and brings to life the different landscapes they inhabit. Skydiver will delight and inform readers with a passion for species preservation, as it documents the struggles and the eventual success of the efforts to save the fastest bird in the world.

 

This book is the winner of numerous awards. It was recognised by the Green Earth Book Award. It was recognised by the Hackmatack Children's Choice Award. It also was recognised by the Rainforest of Reading Award. It was recognised by the Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year. Also it was recognised in the Best Books for Kids & Teens category by the Canadian Children's Book Centre Awards. It was recognised by the Resource Links the Year's Best.

This book has been graded for interest at 6-9 years.

There are 32 pages in this book. This book was published 2015 by Pajama Press .

Celia Godkin trained as a biologist and worked as a scientific illustrator. An illustration job preparing signs for the Winnipeg zoo led to a collaboration on the book Endangered Species: Canada's Disappearing Wildlife . Encouraged by this success Celia illustrated an ecology story she had written years earlier and showed it to her publisher. The resulting book, Wolf Island , won the Children's Literature Roundtables Best Information Book Award and led to a succession of information storybooks.