A picture book as intelligent as its subject--though a good deal more sophisticated-looking, thanks to the muted palette and distempered quality of Olivia Lomenech Gill's mixed-media artwork. Chris Butterworth's text, meanwhile, flows nicely in paragraphs that are printed in varying sizes, so that they can be read one after another in a continuous narrative or browsed through a page or two at a time. . . . [A] fine work of nonfiction.
--The Wall Street Journal
An admiring tribute to the habits and smarts of the corvid clan. Gill's standout mixed-media illustrations feature individual and group portraits of numerous crows and crow cousins, stylishly rendered in fine, exact detail. These visuals, along with a gallery of eggs, will draw the eye first, but young audiences will find Butterworth's rapturous observations, delivered in multiple sizes of type, likewise worth lingering over. . . as lively and appealing as its subject.
--Kirkus Reviews
Noting that crows use tools, can trick other birds when stashing food, and know how to play, this assemblage of corvid portraits form a stately, intelligent survey of crow types.
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
The mixed-media illustrations combine realistic-looking crows against soft backgrounds with a watercolor wash that hints at avian majesty.
--The Horn Book
Butterworth proposes that what [crows] lack in flashiness they more than make up for in cleverness. . . . The varied elements of the mixed media art provide a larger picture of the bird in all its ordinary-extraordinary glory.
--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
The sprightly text and gorgeous art in this ode to crows -- full of glistening black feathers and ebony eyes with the glint of intelligence -- will encourage readers to think again about an easily overlooked bird.
--The Virginian-Pilot
Beautifully illustrated and written in an accessible way, 'Clever Crows' is an eye-opening look at crows and guarantees you'll never look at crows the same way again.
--Reading Eagle
