Wild Flamingos- Bruce McMillan

McMillan, B. (1997). Wild flamingos.  New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.



Do you know how flamingos get their color?  Bruce McMillan, author of Wild Flamingos, explains this phenomena by explaining the food flamingos eat, "All of these little animals eat aquatic plants and bacteria that contain the same chemicals that make carrots orange.  The effect of these chemicals is to give the flamingo a beautiful, bright orange-red color." (1997, p.8)  Wow!  That was my reaction after reading the above quote.  Wild Flamingos is a great example of expository writing that explains the life of flamingos inhabiting the island of Bonaire. 

I absolutely loved learning about wild flamingos in this photo essay book written for intermediate children.  McMillan did an excellent job supporting his informational text with clear photographs of flamingos in their natural habitat.  Each page is balanced with information about great flamingos and the way they adapt to their environment, as well as pictures that support the words.  As I read this book I was amazed at the amount of new information I learned about flamingos.  For example, I learned the animal lives in salinas, which McMillan defines as, "a lake below sea level that is filled with salt water from the sea." (1997, p.4) 

McMillan does a fantastic job varying sentence complexity to inform readers about how flamingos in Bonaire adapt to their environment.  His writing style keeps the reader engaged, as well as provides a wealth of information in an easily understood way.  For example, consider this excerpt: "While one flamingo pauses, another sticks its head underwater to feed on tiny animals.  It eats some small shellfish.  Flamingos at the other end of the island eat immature brine flies-both free-swimming larvae and the intermediate chrysalid stage, which are attached to rocks on the bottom."  (McMillan, 1997, p.8)

Students are generally interested in learning about how animals use their environments to meet their needs.  This informational book would be an excellent way to supplement instruction when teaching a science unit on habitats.  Hook students by asking the question above regarding flamingos and how they get their color.  Direct students' attention to the way McMillan supports how flamingos adapt to their environment with actual photographs of the animal.  As students read (or you read aloud), encourage the use of Post-It Notes to write words/facts that caused confusion or interest.  For example, I noted the word, "briny".  Even though the author gives a definition of the word, I would want to know more.  Unfortunately no words were in bold print, but you could still encourage students to use the "Mark the Bold" strategy with words that could be in bold print.  Consider the word, "salina".  The author describes this word, but it's not in bold print.  "Salina" would be a great word to discuss later.  In addition to reading and discussing this book during a unit on habitats, I think it would be awesome to have students conduct additional research and write a feature article on flamingos.

Questions for consideration:

• What are the flamingo's adaptations?
• What fact did you find most interesting?
• What did you think of the photographs?