Greystone Kids swoops for crow tale from Candace Savage

Greystone Kids has bought How to Know a Crow: The Biography of a Brainy Bird from award-winning author Canadian author Candace Savage and Hampshire-based illustrator Rachel Hudson.  

Lara LeMoal, Greystone Kids publisher, acquired world all-language rights from the author and illustrator directly. The book will be published in September 2024.  

The blurb reads: “Crows are all around us, shouting from lamp posts, poking around on lawns, and generally taking a bright-eyed interest in everything that moves. How to Know a Crow, for nine to 12-year-olds, explores the lives of one of our most common birds – a species we nonetheless often don’t know much about.”  

Greystone Kids said: “With words from award-winning author Candace Savage and gorgeous illustration from Rachel Hudson, who lives near Alton in Hampshire, the book invites us into the fascinating world of these big, brash and surprisingly brainy birds. Hudson went to extraordinary lengths to capture a crow’s-eye view of the world, enlisting the help of a local tree surgeon to help her climb a tree and draw the landscape as a crow would see it from her nest.”  

The book follows a baby crow, Oki, and enables the reader to witness the seasons of her life, exploring how crows see and sense the world, how they communicate and play, and how can we interact with them. 

Andrew Furlow, head of Greystone Books UK, said: “There are few more qualified authors to introduce children to the wonder of crows than Candace Savage, and we’re incredibly pleased that Rachel Hudson is making her Greystone debut with this book.  

“Her work combines a rigorous attention to detail – look at the speckles on the crow’s eggs, for example – with a charming, irresistible flair and clear passion for her subject matter that will endear nature-loving children to the book.”  

Hudson said: “I have learnt a huge amount in bringing Oki’s story to life, for instance, how crows’ eyes turn from blue to brown, and that play is a serious business.  

“How to Know a Crow has deepened my interest in members of the corvid family and every morning I make sure to greet the rooks who live in my neighbourhood. I can’t wait to share our book and Oki’s extraordinary journey from egg to adult.”  

Savage is an award-winning author of more than two dozen books and is based in Canada. Hudson is an author and illustrator of 100 Endangered Species who lives on the edge of the South Downs National Park in Hampshire, England. 

Greystone Books recently won the BOP Bologna Prize for the Best Children’s Publisher of the Year for North America.