The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow by Jan Thornhill

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow by Jan Thornhill Elizabeth Bush Thornhill, Jan The Triumphant Tale of the House Sparrow; written and illus. by Jan Thornhill. Groundwood, 2018 44p ISBN 978-1-77306-006-4 $18.95 R Gr. 3-6 Thornhill follows The Tragic Tale of the Great Auk (BCCB 11/16) with another engrossing account of avian survival-this one replete with a "joke's on you" twist for humans, who signed the death warrant for the long-lived auk. In a textbook study on unintended consequences, our ancestors' switch from hunter-gatherers to agriculturalists some twelve thousand years ago unwittingly provided a stable food supply of tasty grain for migratory sparrows, who promptly settled in to enjoy the feast without the arduous trek. The house sparrow and Eurasian tree sparrow's capacity to adapt and thrive among humans earned them the reputation of pest, scourge, and blight, and people battled them in turf wars over everything from cultivated fields to poop-free park benches. In her engrossing narrative, illustrated with scenes that underscore the house sparrow's ability to insinuate itself into all things human, Thornhill revels in the irony of the sparrows' "triumph," even as she comments on complexities that add dimension to the story and point toward their uncertain future. Chairman Mao's campaign against the encroachers, for example, proved effective but emphatically ill advised, removing from the environment an [End Page 403] insect controller and unleashing subsequent crop decimation and famine. A recent drop in house sparrow population begs explanation, and although Thornhill proposes possible causes, she wisely allows this mystery to remain unsolved, with reason to trust in the species' adaptability as its key to survival. A map of house sparrow distribution, chart of its life cycle, a glossary, and additional resources are included. Copyright © 2018 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois