Customer Reviews
Lord God, what a book! 
2006-03-31
At the risk of sounding blasphemous let me simply say "Lord God, what a book!" This book belongs on your MUST READ list!
This is a perfect example of how nonfiction should be written. Every school and public library should have a copy of this book. It is a valuable addition to the study of man, nature, and the environment.
Phillip Hoose's wonderful book captures the reader's attention and doesn't let it go till the very end of a beautifully written account of one of the most magnificent birds ever to grace this land. The cover of the book, not to mention the title, immediately attracts attention and after reading it the reader clearly understands why this bird was referred to as the Lord God Bird.
Hoose introduces us to collectors like Brewster and Wayne who helped lead to the bird's demise. There are the corporate villains in the form of the Chicago Mill and Lumber Company and the Singer Manufacturing Company who could have saved the last real refuge of the Lord God Bird but who chose profit over conservation when the Singer Tract was not spared from the woodcutter's ax. There are heroes to this story. You will meet Jim Tanner, "Doc" Allen, and J. J. Kuhn who worked tirelessly to save the species. Having read this book I felt that Jim Tanner was definitely someone I wished that I had known personally.
Educators will find countless lessons on environmental awareness, extinction of species, and the recklessness with which man has "civilized" the wilderness.
Well done Mr. Hoose, well done.
Engrossing Non-fiction 2006-03-23
I picked this book up based on recommendations from online reader groups who said it would read more like fiction than non-fiction. They were right! Hoose has meticulously researched the plight of the "Lord God Bird", the ivory-billed woodpecker, documenting the efforts to locate the dwindling population and the sad effects of man vs. nature. Well highlighted by photographs, we follow the loss of this magnificent creature as its habitat is swallowed up by man's greed in the first half of the twentieth century. Hoose's writing is vivid and engrossing and caused me to do that rarest of things---go online and research more for myself. Most interesting of all is that just after this book was published, there have been reports of the rediscovery of the ivory-bill! This is a wonderful book appropriate for people of all ages and especially those who are worried about the endangerment of species by mankind's shortsightedness. Recommended!
The Lord God Bird 
2005-11-17
I thought that this book was well written, reasearched, and thought through. But as a 12 year old I didn't enjoy it quite as much as i think an older person would. I think that the author wrote the stories well, and made them very drawing. This book was not one of my favorite books, partially because it was very hard to read. The other reason was beause to me it was a bit confusing. I could see him doing a kids version of the same book, but making it a bit simpler or shorter. I thought that the author did a great job in writing this book, but I think you should wait to read it until you are a bit older. Some people I know thought it was a great book, but they're older than me. So again I thought that this was an o.k. book, but not a great kid's read.
The Lord God Bird 2005-11-17
I thought that this book was well written, and thoroughly researched, but I didn't enjoy it very much. It was a very sad book. The author did a great job writing the story's fact for fact, but there were some parts where you say "awwww" and feel bad for these birds. In one story he wrote, a man went on a hunting trip to find a "Lord God Bird" and killed a family of them, including two babies. The hunter also killed many more birds that trip. I would not recommend this book unless you enjoy sad stories. It is one of those books that draws you into certain stories, but in between them you really want to put the book down.
Studying the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker and Trying Too Late to Save It. 2005-11-08
"The Race to Save the Lord God Bird" is a chronicle of the history and demise of the ivory-billed woodpecker. It was written for children ages 9-12 but is perfectly suitable for adults as well. The book is large format in size, which makes the font bigger, but there is just as much text on each page as in an adult book, and there is nothing conspicuously juvenile about it. The large dimensions allow for nice black-and-white photographs of ivory-bills, their habitat, and the people who studied the birds.
Author Phillip Hoose follows human interest in the ivory-bill woodpecker from Alexander Wilson's encounter with the bird in 1809 as he was working on his 9-volume "American Ornithology" to John James Audubon's work sketching the bird in natural poses around 1820. By 1900, large scale deforestation in Southern states had made the ivory-bill rare. At this point, "The Race to Save the Lord God Bird" turns its attention to the collectors who were continuing to mine the population when they clearly shouldn't have been and the beginnings of organized conservation efforts, starting with the "Plume Wars" that sought to end the slaughter of birds to decorate ladies' hats. It describes the 1935 Cornell University expedition by Jim Tanner, George Sutton, Arthur "Doc" Allen, and Paul Kellogg to record bird calls of nearly 100 species in the Tensas Swamp in Louisiana. That's followed up by an account of Jim Tanner's 3 years studying the few remaining ivory-bills for the Audubon Society, 1937-1939, from which he wrote his still-famous book.
As Tanner was creeping around in it, the Singer Manufacturing Company sold logging rights to the Singer Tract, where the last known ivory-bills lived, and efforts to preserve the forest by purchasing it failed. The ivory-billed woodpecker was declared extinct. A couple chapters are dedicated to recent searches for the ivory-bill in Cuba and the United States, but this book was published before the announcement in April 2005 that the ivory-bill may still live. In the back of the book, there are maps of the shrinking ivory-bill habitat 1800-present, a chronology of important dates in ivory-bill and bird conservation, a glossary of terms, a detailed list of sources, and an index. "The Race to Save the Lord God Bird" is a readable and informative account of the actions and circumstances that brought the ivory-bill woodpecker to near-extinction in spite of a persistent human fascination with the bird and concerted efforts to save it. For more information on sightings of the ivory-bill since it was presumed extinct in the 1940s, see Tim Gallagher's book "The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker".
A Great Read for All Ages. 2005-06-08
The tragedy of extinction is explained through the dramatic story of a legendary bird, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and of those who tried to possess it, paint it, shoot it, sell it, and, in a last-ditch effort, save it. A powerful saga that sweeps through two hundred years of history, it introduces artists like John James Audubon, bird collectors like William Brewster, and finally a new breed of scientist in Cornell's Arthur A. "Doc" Allen and his young ornithology student, James Tanner, whose quest to save the Ivory-bill culminates in one of the first great conservation showdowns in U.S. history, an early round in what is now a worldwide effort to save species. As hope for the Ivory-bill fades in the United States, the bird is last spotted in Cuba in 1987, and Cuban scientists join in the race to save it.
All this, plus Mr. Hoose's wonderful story-telling skills, comes together to give us what David Allen Sibley, author of
The Sibley Guide to Birds calls "the most thorough and readable account to date of the personalities, fashions, economics, and politics that combined to bring about the demise of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker."
Not a complete ripoff 
2005-05-19
If you're 11 years old, you might find this book pretty entertaining--maybe even as good as Mr. Hoose's masterpiece,"Hey, Little Ant." But if you want to read a grownup version of the ivory-bill story, I highly recommend "In Search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker," by Jerome Jackson, a scientist who has spent most of his life studying these birds.
Amazing Bird, Amazing Book 2005-05-10
As a school librarian, I am always looking for informative and engaging nonfiction for students to read. After reading "The Race to Save the Lord God Bird", I knew it was a book that would capture the interest and imagination of anyone I might recommend it to, young adults and older ones, too. In fact, it is one of the finest examples of nonfiction I have read in a long while.
The story is multi-faceted, filled with drama, science, passion, and just plain good storytelling. Phillip Hoose eloquently introduces us to the many factors that contributed to the demise of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, the belated efforts to save it, and the impact that its apparent extinction had on everyone taken by the magnificent bird, as well as on the conservation movement its endangerment fostered. This impeccably researched, beautifully written tale captures the essence of the value of all life here on earth and the responsibility we all share in safeguarding it. The poignant description of the last known female calling furtively to a seemingly nonexistent mate leaves the reader in despair, yet the author focuses on the positive outcomes in the race to save the bird, the lessons learned which hopefully will help keep the scenario from being played out again.
The amazing reappearance of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker this past year fills one with hope and awe, reminding us all that we can make a difference. "The Race to Save the Lord God Bird" is a must-read, now more than ever, to help us understand how and why the Ivory-bills were brought to the brink of extinction and how the efforts to salvage and protect what was left of its habitat did in fact make a huge difference.
Treat yourself --read The Race to Save the Lord God Bird 2005-05-10
This thoroughly documented, intruiging story traces the historical and cultural events and attitudes that destroyed the Ivory-billed Woodpecker's habitat and endangered this remarkable bird. Though it was published for a young adult audience, the passion and tension of the narrative and sophisticated writing makes it a engaging read for any intelligent reader; I sent a copy to my Grandfather, a birder. (Everyone else should expect it for Christmas.) This is a beautifully written (and illustrated) book. I didn't want to put it down...and when it was done, I had to sit for a bit and cry. Powerful stuff.
Forget the drink or the day at a spa--treat yourself to this book.
Let's be fair 2005-05-09
I take exception to the reviewer who said this book was a ripoff. "The Race to Save the Lord God Bird" is an excellent children's book, and it's not fair to judge it side-by-side with books written for adults. I thought Mr. Hoose's earlier book "It's our World, Too!" is a classic, and "Hey, Little Ant" was one of my daughter's favorite books in kindergarten. Ivory-bill enthusiasts will also enjoy "In Search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker" by Jerome Jackson, a dedicated scientist who refused against all odds to declare this species extinct. I recommend it.
