Rightfully, music becomes an underlying theme in Duet, Phillip Hoose’s newest book focusing on the mockingbird. Five states, including my home state of Mississippi, have chosen it as the official bird. Mockingbirds have their own music and also borrow from other birds, sounds in nature, and even noises that humans make.
Hoose begins his book with an interesting history of mockingbirds with their popularity leading to people trapping them in cages for their songs. People moved them from room to room to enjoy their songs as they went about their work. At one point, so many had been taken for feathers in ladies’ hats or trapped and caged that they became endangered. Women, in what came to be called “the Plume War,” intervened and called for a boycott of hats with feathers.
Many Native American myths and legends feature mockingbirds. They are often referred to in literature with arguably the most famous quote being Atticus Finch’s saying that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird. Musicians refer to them in song and borrow from their music. It’s hard to imagine that anybody could read this book without resorting to a bit of internet research to hear the folk song, “Listen to the Mockingbird.”
The author brings understanding and appreciation for the bird and its interaction with humans. Back matter adds ways humans can contribute to this duet. The morning after I finished reading it, I looked up from my computer to spot a mockingbird perched on a branch of the crepe myrtle outside my window. I’d never thought of us as a duet, but our property provides seeds and berries for his food, water sources, and this tree where he hangs out. He provides his beauty and his song. I thank Phillip Hoose for the metaphor.