Sparrow

Mary Tebo developed a strong connection with nature as a child, when she often rode horseback alone through North Florida backwoods. Tebo's past work illustrates her attention to the natural world and her efforts to give the players in that world a voice. Through newspaper columns and local commentary for National Public Radio, she has aimed to acquaint her audience with everything from cowbirds to tai-tai thickets. Sparrow is her debut picture book.The recipient of a Caldecott Honor, five Coretta Scott King Honor Awards, and an Orbis Pictus Award, along with many others, E. B. Lewis is the illustrator of more than seventy books for children. His recent titles include The Soldier's Friend and Everywhere Beauty is Harlem, both by Gary Golio, You Are My Pride by Carole Boston Weatherford, and Lizzie Demands a Seat by Beth Anderson, which won Bank Street College of Education's Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for excellence in nonfiction, along with many other honors.

"Today is different for Sparrow, who knows that 'something is going to happen.' To prepare, she journeys through the city seeking food and nesting materials. Watercolors by Lewis (Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem)—balancing the spontaneity of field sketches with polished landscapes—capture the play of her feathers against sunlight and ancient stones. Finally, Sparrow discovers what the nest needs: prayer notes, paper wishes that worshippers have tucked into the Wall’s crevices. When Sparrow’s egg arrives ('so big, she can hardly believe she had carried it inside for so long'), it touchingly mirrors the prayers as an expression of hope in the world." —Publishers Weekly