Swoop and Soar

Winner of the 2023 De Bary Children's Science Book Award!

From the award-winning authors of Beauty and the Beak, Deborah Lee Rose and Jane Veltkamp once again combine a dramatic story of raptor rescue with the science it takes to make it happen in this heartwarming and informative STEM picture book.

Young readers will cheer for the osprey adoption to be successful and see up close what it takes to help these beautiful birds have another chance in the wild. Expansive back matter includes detailed information on ospreys and their lifecycle, diet, nests, and behavior, plus how they got on the endangered species list, environmental challenges they face today, the tools raptor scientists use to do their work to protect them, and more!

The story begins with Swoop and Soar, two baby osprey chicks only ten days old, safe in their nest at the top of the forest...until a powerful storm sends their tree crashing to the ground, their nest shattered amidst thunder and lightning. Swoop and Soar is the true story of how science found these two orphan chicks a new osprey family and home in the wild. Raptor biologist Janie Veltkamp, who rescued Beauty the bald eagle, helps save the young osprey chicks and sets out to find them a new family. In a race against time, Janie finds the perfect new nest for the chicks, with wild osprey parents who have also lost chicks to the storm. But will the new parents accept Swoop and Soar as their own, or soon fly away from the nest forever?

After quickly nursing the baby brother and sister back to health, Janie carefully places them in the new nest while the osprey parents are out hunting for fish. Then Janie waits, watches and hopes. The new father brings back a fresh fish, but four long hours go by until the mother lands at the nest. Will she feed Swoop and Soar, and shade them from the Sun's burning rays with her outstretched wings? Can the chicks and their new osprey parents now become a real family?