Naturalist Priyanka Kumar's luminous third book, The Grassland Queen, details her patient pursuit of the long-billed curlew, alongside which she shares musings about her own journey as a parent. As Kumar (Conversations with Birds) and her family track the curlews across the Great Plains of North America, she takes notes on their habits and migration patterns, observes the dynamics of mated pairs raising chicks, and meditates on why she is drawn to these singular birds.
Kumar takes readers deep into the grassland habitat, detailing its landforms, plants, and animals, including prickly poppies, meadowlarks, turkey vultures, and prairie dogs. She recounts several road trips in the company of her husband and their two daughters, both of whom eventually become keen curlew spotters. Kumar gives names to several mated pairs of curlews and their chicks that reappear throughout the narrative. Much of The Grassland Queen is concerned with climate change, which, Kumar acknowledges, "has introduced serious disruptions into our planetary story." She tracks the effects of rising temperatures, shifting vegetation, and increased human development on curlews, as well as other species that have evolved to feed on particular plants and insects and migrate at specific times. The dedicated care and insightful attention of Kumar's observations, accompanied by her hand-drawn illustrations, make a compelling case for the curlew's distinct relevance. Her attention expands to take in the curlew's entire fragile, beautiful grassland ecosystem, reminding readers that "what looks like emptiness can be rich with tessellated meaning."
Keenly observed and shimmering with detail, The Grassland Queen highlights the quiet beauty and profound significance of a bird--and an ecosystem--too often overlooked by humans. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams