Nothing is more fun than reading to children. I can remember reading to my son and trying to cover two pages at once. He was too smart for me to do that. He had memorized the picture, the page and the plot.

A wonderful book to read to your grandchildren is What Bluebirds Do. Written by Pamela F. Kirby of nearby Gibsonville. It is full of her spectacular photographs which were taken in her backyard. When she was here for a program at Weymouth in the spring, along with bluebird guru Frances Outhwaite, she read the entire book aloud to the audience which was composed of many more adults than children. They were mesmerized by the soothing cadence of the words and the glorious shots of the bluebirds.

The book details how they build their nests, how many eggs the mother lays, how long the sky-blue eggs must be incubated, how the birds’ color changes, the father bird’s role in raising the young and how they are eventually encouraged to fly off and leave home.

She explains that bluebirds were once in danger of disappearing with the advent of the house sparrow and birds from other countries, so concerned bluebird lovers set up and monitored bluebird nest boxes all across the continent and set up trails. They designed nest boxes and fought off insects. The book is not only pretty to look at and entertaining, it is also scientifically accurate. At the end is a glossary that defines words that might be unfamiliar to readers.

The last chapter lists instructions for attracting bluebirds. I was especially interested in this as many years ago my husband built bluebird boxes for me and all our grown children. He followed the instructions to a T. Bluebirds are a persnickity lot. We sat hardly breathing late one afternoon as a father bluebird inspected our house, flew in and out, brought back his mate, then they flew away never to be seen again. They evidently did not like the neighborhood. I myself am content with reading What Bluebirds Do to my four and five-year-old girls.