Duet: Our Journey in Song with the Northern Mockingbird: Educator’s Guide

DUET: OUR JOURNEY IN SONG WITH THE NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD: EDUCATOR’S GUIDE

Best Users: STEM Clubs, Educators, Public Librarians, School Librarians, After School Programs, Home Learning
Best Audience: Children Grades 05-12

ABOUT THE ENGAGEMENT TOOLS

Duet Curriculum
Explore the history and science of the mockingbird with your readers while investigating how Phillip Hoose weaves together both disciplines in his award-winning style. Lesson Plans created by Nicole Woulfe, a middle school Social Studies teacher, adjunct professor at Southern New Hampshire University, and the 2018 NH’s History Teacher of the Year.
DOWNLOAD Duet: Educators Guide (PDF)
Source: Macmillan Publishing

A Master of Song: Northern Mockingbird

Video Source: Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Header Image Source: National Audubon Society

ABOUT THE BOOK

Duet: Our Journey in Song with the Northern Mockingbird
By Phillip Hoose
Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN-13: 9780374388775
Age Range: 12+ Years

The Northern mockingbird’s brilliant song—a loud, bright, liquid sampling of musical notes and phrases—has made it a beloved companion and the official bird of five states. Many of our favorite songs and poems feature mockingbirds.

Mockingbirds have been companions to humans for centuries. Many Native American myths and legends feature mockingbirds, often teaching humans to speak. Thomas Jefferson’s mockingbird, “Dick”, was the first White House pet. John James Audubon’s portrait of a rattlesnake raiding a mockingbird’s nest sparked outrage in the world of art. Atticus Finch’s somber warning to his children, “Remember, it’s a sin to kill a Mockingbird,” is known throughout the world. Some jazz musicians credit mockingbirds with teaching them a four-note call that says, “Break’s over.” And mockingjays—a hybrid between jabberjays and mockers—are a symbol of the rebel cause in the Hunger Games trilogy.

But in the early 1900s the mocker was plummeting toward extinction. Too many had been trapped, sold, and caged. Something had to be done. To the rescue came a powerful and determined group of women.

Now, National Book Award and Newbery honor-winner Phillip Hoose brings the story of the important and overlooked connection between humans and mockingbirds—past, present, and future. It is the third volume of his bird trilogy.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

“A duet is a piece for two voices, and award-winning author Hoose ­provides a new perspective into an amazing bird and its place in American cultural ­history . . . A delight to read. ­Recommend for all libraries for a fresh look at the impact on ­native species of the settlement of America.”
—School Library Journal, starred review

“Hoose’s passion for his subject comes singing through—this book will change how you listen to the world!” —Steve Sheinkin, National Book Award finalist author of Bomb and Most Dangerous

“[W]ith breadth of scope and liveliness of prose . . . will likely leave readers with new appreciation for this common backyard bird.”
—Horn Book Magazine

“[Hoose] discusses the species’ endangerment and efforts to save it as well as the mockingbird’s current state, how it’s adapting during climate change, and practices humans can make to support it. Related photos expand reader familiarity with this at once iconic yet lesser-known bird.”
—Booklist

THE GIVEAWAY WINNERS

Sing it out! 25 individual educators and librarians won a signed copy of this acclaimed non-fiction title. Our gratitude to FSG for allowing this giveaway to take flight!