"Sparrow Girl" shines as a children's book teaching about ecological importance

I was at the Wescott Library searching for children's books last weekend. I was looking at their just arrived shelf, and I was initially attracted to "Sparrow Girl" because of it's august cover. This was Yoko Tanaka's first attempt at illustrating a picture book, and I think she pinned the tail on the donkey with her illustrations in "Sparrow Girl". This book is more than just a treat for the eye.

Author, Sara Pennypacker, takes her reader back to 1958 during the Sparrow War in China. The war shows a classic example of what can happen when humankind attempts to control nature. In 1958, many Chinese farmers believed that the large sparrow population was desiccating their crop production. As such, Chairman Mao Tse-Tung declared war on the sparrows. Over a period of 3 days farmers and school children alike roamed the country to make as much noise as possible in order to scare the birds to death. Their plan worked and most of the sparrows died. Unfortunately for the farmers, the sparrows played an important role in pest control. These birds were one of the main predators of the locust and other insects. As a result of the war, China suffered famine for 3 years killing almost 40 million people. "Sparrow Girl" tells the story of a young girl who tried to save sparrows during the Sparrow War. The book is one of the few children's books I have come across lately that teaches history, food chains, and ecological cycles to kids, but still remains a captivating story.