Nicole Godwin (text) and Susannah Crispe (illustrator), Swoop, CSIRO Publishing, September 2022, 32 pp., RRP $24.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781486315697
Swoop is a cleverly told picture book story about magpie swooping behaviour from the perspective of a magpie.
On page one, the text explains in no uncertain terms (and in capital letters) – Magpie’s purpose is to “KEEP THE EGGS SAFE”. And through the story we see that Magpie swoops persistently and vigilantly at park visitors. The text is in Magpie’s voice, portraying his perceptions of all passers-by as threats and the urgent need to scare them away, despite the images depicting people occupied in various outdoor activities (not egg stealing) and wearing headgear adapted to protect from Magpie’s swooping. This format serves well to explain the swooping behaviour and also achieves an amusing irony.
I love the brevity of Godwin’s text, with short, punchy sentences and a pattern around repetition of the word “swoop”. And in Crispe’s vibrant illustrations, Magpie’s bold, proud image, with animated facial expressions, occupies centre stage alongside the busy activity of the park visitors and set against soft greys and greens of a lush Australian park background.
The last two double spread pages take on a factual text format, with fun and interesting facts about magpies.
I highly recommend this book for 6-9 year olds, especially as a teaching resource to introduce discussions about birds or animal behaviour in general. There are teaching notes on the publisher’s website.
Reviewed by Barbara Swartz
