City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male

City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male
Meghan McCarthy (2007)


City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male is the true story about a red-tailed hawk who has made his home on one of New York City's famed 5th Avenue apartment buildings!  City goers are not used to seeing other forms of wildlife in New York City, because, it is a city! This story tells about how Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk with light feathers, made his home and started a nest in New York City.  It also talks about how he had a gathering of bird watchers and how no one is still quite sure why he picked New York city/Central Park for his and his family's home!  This book is child friendly and would be great in a K-3 classroom.  Lessons that can stem from this theme are: types of birds, migration patterns, the differences between city, suburban, and rural life, and more!  One great thing about this book, is at the end, still written in easy-to-read child friendly language, is more about the history of New York City's Central Park and more information about red-tailed hawks! I found this book really interesting, because I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and really was not all that accustomed to cool forms of wildlife until coming to the University of Iowa, which is more in the countryside! This is a quality book because it has some challenging vocabulary words, pictures that follow the story, and more! The information is also presented in a logical order, and presented in an interesting way, that can leave students who are interested in this story in wanting to find out more information!