Baldy the American Eagle

This story follows Baldy and his mate as the raise their eaglets. Building a nest, hatching, struggling for food, etc building a connection with the eaglets. But then 2 pages before the end, the eaglets both die suddenly and descriptively. I understand it’s nature and real life, however, book left me and my daughter quite sad.

Goodness, what a depressing book. My daughter enjoyed this book and all the facts and behaviors about bald eagles until the last few pages. The ending was completely unnecessary. SPOILER ALERT: My daughter was very upset that after all the eagles’ hard work, their nest was destroyed and eaglets were killed in a storm. Why was this necessary? Yes, the eagles persevere and continue on looking for a new home to start a new family, but if you have an animal loving child like mine, that gives very little comfort.

As soon as we finished reading Baldy, my 11 and 7 year old declared that they loved this book! They loved that it was about nature and family, (an Eagle family of course). My son and I would look up videos after each chapter to see eagles in action. I liked learning about the life of Bald eagles in the form of story.

Baldy the American Eagle is a great example of a living book that describes the life of a bald eagle. It has great black and white illustrations and descriptive language. The story format will keep kids engaged as learn all about bald eagles.

My reluctant reader, who loves all animals, loved this book. The story kept his interest as he learned about the eagles and their care for their young. He also loved the beautiful, detailed, black and white illustrations.