Are You My Mother? Hello, I'm Here! by Helen Frost

I'm out in the world--
I don't know where.
Mama! Papa!
Hello, I'm here!

Hatching is hard!

The baby sandhill crane has a lot of work just to get out of his shell. But then, what does he do?

He tries to stand up. One leg, then the other.

Hey, who's this?

Are you my brother?

The two chicks try their long legs and start to wander toward the water. There's something they're supposed to do there. Should they wade in to see?

No! Snapping turtles!

Stay close to me.

Mama strides swiftly over to head the twin chicks off before they wade in. She spreads her wide wings protectively as she quickly diverts their attention with something to eat...

... a snail for a treat!

One chick admires a group of cranes flying overhead. Is that what Mama can do with her long wings? Will he learn to fly like that, too?

The birth of two new American sandhill cranes is a big deal, but now it's time for a rest in the nest, in Helen Frost's latest nature poem, Hello, I'm Here! (Candlewick Press, 2019), which describes the first day of sandhill chicks. Despite their format as rhyming quatrains, Frost's verses convey some engaging nature science about these tall, impressive birds capable of migrating to the arctic portions of North America and Siberia on their strong, almost seven-foot wings. Rick Lieder's lovely closeup color photographs illustrate Frost's expressive rhyming narrative in a way that will help young readers identify with the little sandhill cranes' first days as they do what all little ones do--eat, explore, learn, nap, and follow their mothers. "These simple abcb quatrains scan beautifully--a good thing, since this will likely be requested over and over. Perfectly matched text and images make this a grand entrance," says School Library Journal.