A Picture Book Exploration: Bird Girl
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Oh I am so excited about today’s Picture Book Exploration! Today is one of my favorite people’s birthdays: Gene Stratton-Porter! Gene was an amazing woman: author, photographer, ornithologist and Bird Woman Extraordinaire. I am so delighted to, maybe, introduce her to you or to help you renew her acquaintance through the most delightful of picture book: Bird Girl by Jill Esbaum, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon. Please join me in celebrating this great woman’s birthday!
Bird Girl: Gene Stratton-Porter Shares Her Love of Nature With the World by Jill Esbaum, illustrated by Rebecca Gibbon
Oh my stars! This picture book is simply wonderful! It has all the elements of a living picture book: beautiful text, amazing illustrations and an author and illustrator that are obviously passionate about their subject. Jill Esbaum must really love Gene, almost as much as I do, lol! She will take you on a tour of Gene’s life like you have never seen it before, truly a magical adventure. Enhanced by the wonderful illustrations of Rebecca Gibbon this is truly a winner of a picture book. If her illustrations seem familiar it is because she illustrated our March 2026 Picture Book Exploration book: Papa is a Poet, about Robert Frost. We find here the same tender whimsy in her illustrations that transport us straight to the banks of the Wabash river and into the Limberlost Swamp.
Gene Stratton-Porter
Born on a farm in Indiana, Gene Stratton-Porter developed a love of nature and especially of birds, very early on in her life. She did not know it then but this love of birds and nature would be the driving force of her life’s work. Without any formal education outside of her own observations and love for the feathered folks she became one of America’s premiere ornithologists and soon developed her love into an art and a science. She also wrote many fictional stories of the way of life she loved so much in rural Indiana at the beginning of the twentieth century. She left us a true picture of this life and the nature surrounding her.
My infatuation
I discovered Gene Stratton-Porter through the Girl of the Limberlost, about 10 years ago. And I fell hopelessly in love… I am a Gene Stratton-Porter geek. I have read most of her books and I love her writing both fictional and non-fictional as well as her photographs. And I might even have conjured a road trip to go visit the Limberlost and her home in Geneva, Indiana. Her writing awakened in me a thirst for nature and to learn more than the superficial knowledge I had of the nature surrounding me. Gene’s fictional books are delightfully written and will stir in anyone a desire to reconnect with the natural world surrounding us. Her non-fiction books would make the best Nature Study “textbooks” possible. All in all she is an American treasure.
The road trip
One of my daughters was moving from CO to OH a couple of years ago, and guess what happens to be between these two states? Indiana! As we are both Gene Stratton-Porter fans and moths lovers we decided to make the (few hours) detour to Geneva. It was so worth it! If you ever have the opportunity to go visit the Limberlost and Gene’s home in Geneva, IN, do not hesitate! It is totally worth it! One of the best preserved author’s homes I have visited and a perfectly delightful expedition. We had a wonderful time and we even caught a glimpse of one of the Limberlost’s moths. Absolutely recommend!
Ornithology
Ornithology is the study of birds. Gene was one of America’s premiere ornithologists during her life. Not because she had masses of degrees in the subject, not because she was a genius but because of her love of birds. With no academic training, Gene had discovered the key to studying a subject she was fascinated about. It took hard work, patience, loads of it, and a great sense of observation but she became, due to her dedication, one of the best ornithologists of the early twentieth century. So if you have read the book carefully you now know everything there is to know to study birds in their home environment. So arm yourself with a camera or a sketchpad and go study your feathered neighbors.
Writing
Nature Journaling has always been a hot topic around A Daily Picture Book. I am not especially good at it but I do strive to become better at it and dedicate more time to it. One thing that comes more easily to me than drawing is writing. So today instead of your usual Nature Journaling try writing what you observe, you can of course still illustrate it. But, for a change, try to write everything that you observe, see, smell and feel. How did that feel? Which style of Nature Journaling do you enjoy most?
Reading
Read any of Gene Stratton-Porter’s books, you won’t regret it! I started with A Girl of the Limberlost, but Laddie or Freckles would be just as well for a first encounter. Laddie is an autobiographical work as she is Little Sister. Freckles and A Girl of the Limberlost are a series but can be read independently in any order. However, they are much more enjoyable in order.
Both of these stories describe the plight of the Limberlost Swamp as it was being pumped heavily for crude oil and its ecosystem was being destroyed. She wrote them to educate the public at what could be lost if the swamp disappeared. And I think she did a wonderful job describing it, much more efficient than any ad campaign and picketing I have ever seen. The three books mentioned above are family friendly while her other fictional work is geared for more mature audiences such as high school and beyond.
Recipes
In A Girl of the Limberlost, Elnora’s mother surprises her with a Sugar n Spice Cake. I will assume that it was one of Gene Stratton-Porter’s favorites and use it to celebrate her birthday! And it sounds delicious.
I hope you enjoyed getting acquainted with Gene Stratton-Porter! She is a wonderful companion in our thirst for nature exploration.
Love,
Mattie
