A whimbrel is a bird with a big crescent moon beak – perfect for eating crabs in mud flats and ponds.
Whimbrels start their lives in nests in the arctic, and every fall, they migrate to places in the Caribbean like St. Croix and Guadeloupe. Some even go as far south as Bolivia. During their migration, they make stops on the east coast of the United States. There, scientists have captured some whimbrels and put small trackers on their bodies. Using these trackers, scientists have observed their routes as whimbrels complete their long distance flights over open ocean. They’ve also seen different birds go through hurricanes and tropical storms. One of the birds they tracked was named Hope, and she was tracked as she collided with tropical storm Gert.
She battled through raging headwinds for twenty-seven hours, going an average of nine miles per hour.
Fiona Halliday, in author’s note “The True Story That Inspired This Book”, Numenia and the Hurricane
The story of this one particular bird unfolds global connections. This book is by an author-illustrator who was born in Scotland and lives in Austria, about a bird that flies between the arctic and the Caribbean. A little bird that lives in Great Pond on St. Croix can be as fascinating to a scientist in the mainland U.S. as an author in Europe. It’s a global story, not only a Caribbean one.
With this backstory in mind, it’s a delight to open the shiny metallic covers of Numenia and the Hurricane and dive into a rhyming text, illustrated with birds that are, frankly, cute as well as courageous.
The rhyming poem tells about Numenia (named after the Latin name for whimbrels) and her two sisters. The rich sounds of the story are punctuated with bird calls, “Curlee, curlee, curloo.” And the writing contains a lot of impressive vocabulary that slips easily into the story. Words like “beckoning”, “stampede”, and “faltering”, are among the words that children might not encounter everyday, but can absorb in the context of the story.
The pictures are wonderful. The birds are fluffed and feathered, shown in motion with big expressive eyes and beaks. The backgrounds are icy and atmospheric in the Arctic, dark and storm-tossed in the migration, and warmly glowing for island nights. There are cool perspectives looking down on city streets and lighthouses, or peering through mangrove swamps and past cattle egrets at the bird overhead.
The story is simple but powerful. Numenia and her sisters grow up together in the arctic summer. And then…
Suddenly,
It’s equinox.
Autumn calls
Its feathered flocks.
Fiona Halliday, Numenia and the Hurricane
Later, she is separated from her sisters in a storm and shelters,
Askew upon
A windowsill:
A dripping ghost
With trembling bill.
Fiona Halliday, Numenia and the Hurricane
Numenia’s resilience to continue on after the storm, weighing half what she did before, and her joyful reunion with her sisters at home, is inspiring. I’ve had a hard time finding books that talk about hurricanes in a approachable way for Caribbean children going through them – although I will try to post more on that subject when I get the chance – but there’s certainly something relatable and comforting in Numenia’s journey.
This artistic depiction is “inspired by a true migration story,” but older kids may want to know more facts. There is a nicely written author’s note in the end of the book. I’ve also included more resources below.
The details for Numenia and the Hurricane:
- Island: St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands (named only in author’s note, no specific island in text).
- Author/Illustrator: Fiona Halliday
- Language: English
- Recommended for: younger children (3-6), older children(6+).
- Find it in a public library
If you want to know more…
Another children’s book:
For older readers, also look for Hope is Here! by Cristina Kessler, which is told through the frame of a school field trip, and offers facts, maps, and photos about Hope the whimbrel. Details below:
- Island: St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
- Author: Cristina Kessler
- Illustrator: Marco Castillo
- Language: English
- Recommended for: older children(6+).
- Find it in a public library
Bird info:
Pictures, bird call, and facts on whimbrels from All About Birds by the Cornell Lab.
Sources from the bibliography in the back of Numenia and the Hurricane:
- “A Whimbrel Called Hope” from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (2017)
- “Hope (the Whimbrel) Returns” by Susan Cosier for Audubon (2012)
- “Whimbrels Migrate Thousands of Miles, Only to Be Gunned Down” by Joseph McClain for LiveScience (2011) This headline refers to hunting of whimbrels in Guadeloupe.
Another hurricane:
“Farewell to Hope” by Bryan Watts for the Center for Conservation Biology (2019) In brief, Hope still had a tag but was no longer being tracked in 2017 when Hurricane Maria came through St. Croix, but she may not have survived that storm. Other whimbrels were spotted at Great Pond after the storm.
Caribbean Children's Books 