Arrowhawk

In 1997, a young red-tailed hawk was hit by a poacher's arrow, survived for some time, was captured, cared for, and released in the Midwest. Schaefer, whose fourth-graders followed the news stories about the hawk, has turned this event into a picture book for older readers. By taking the point of view of the hawk, she has anthropomorphized the raptor in ways that sometimes seem stilted. Children may be mesmerized, though, by the hawk's efforts to fly, and to capture prey and feed, with an arrow piercing its thigh and tail. The capture and healing of the bird are handled gently, and the story ends with its release to the wild. Swiatkowska's rich acrylics have beautiful soft edges and fine detail, demonstrating the hawk in many guises as show more it struggles to do what a raptor's gotta do despite the protruding arrow. show less

For slightly older children. The illustrations aren't awfully graphic, but the hawk's inherent loveliness contrasted with the poacher's arrow is effective art, making for a heartbreaking reading experience... until the happy ending. Thank goodness for trained raptor rehabilitators. Includes full note of the truth behind the well-written story.

Arrowhawk by Lola Schaefer shows the life of a hawk through the perspective of a hawk. In the story, we see a hawk is shot with an arrow, and struggles with the pain, but continues his journey. A person sees the hawk one day, and takes it to nurse it back to health. The hawk, once healed, is released back into the wilderness.

This book was very well written. Ellipses were used to create a sense of antipation and suspense. The author used words to recreate sounds. Also, she capitalized words that were of importance or that she wanted to show loudness. The illustrations were well done and added to the ambiance of the story.

This book would be great for animal lovers or those aspiring to be veterinarians. I liked this book because it chronicled the story of a hawk that was wounded. It follows the hawk as it struggles to stay alive. I believe that it could be a good book in showing students how to right a sequence in their stories as well as drama and conflict.

Good informational book. Class instructed to think about what the author had to do to get this information. this book is definitely a heart retching book.

This is a true story about a red-tailed hawk (an endangered bird of prey), who gets pierced by a poacher's arrow, and is left to fend for himself for eight weeks, with the arrow through his thigh and tail, and ends up surviving. I would read this to a 3rd grade class (8 years old). This book was shown to me by a fellow classmate.

A young red-tailed hawk is shot by a poacher's bow. This story tells of the courageous hawk and his fight for survival in the wild, all the while having a portion of the arrow protruding from his leg. Hawk is tracked by a rescue group and brought in to be rehabilitated and hopefully reintroduced into the wild.