Karl's New Beak: 3-D Printing Builds a Bird a Better Life

by Lela Nargi, Harriet Popham (Illustrator)

Overview

Karl is an Abyssinian ground hornbill with a special challenge. His lower bill had broken off and made eating difficult. Karl did a great job of adapting and finding new ways to eat, but he wasn't getting all the food he needed. His zookeepers at the National Zoo and friends at the Smithsonian Institute wanted to help. Could an old bird skeleton and a 3-D printer give Karl a new beak? Karl's new adventure was about to begin!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684467983
Publisher:	Capstone
Publication date:	01/01/2023
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	172,779
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lela Nargi is an author, editor, and veteran journalist living in a leafy corner of Brooklyn, NY, with her daughter, her husband, and an enormous rabbit. After years spent covering news, celebrities, lifestyle, and photography for large national magazines like People, Life, and Entertainment Weekly, she now writes about food, science, the environment, travel, business, and parenting for a wide variety of outlets. She also writes books—lately, mostly for children.

Interviews

story celebrates both a passion for helping animals and use of 3-D technology, supporting STEAM goals; fosters familiarity with prosthetics and helps build understanding of disabilities; gives an inside look into the jobs of zookeepers and curators; Smithsonian branding;;

Editorial Reviews

Using 3-D printing technology, Karl’s friends at the National Zoo and the Smithsonian Institute found a way to help Karl!

Pragmatic Mom

The nonfiction narrative's conversational tone and descriptive language make this an enjoyable read for kids and adults. Karl's New Beak is an excellent example of the problem and solution structure for classrooms studying nonfiction text structures. . . .an inspirational story that will inspire young readers to look for solutions to problems in their every day lives.

Nonfiction Detectives

If and your little ones love to read true stories with a happy ending, Karl’s New Beak is a winner. . . .Instead of nature versus technology, Karl’s tale becomes technology partnering with nature to do an amazing thing: give Karl a normal beak. A fascinating and heart-warming read.

WA) The Columbian (Vancouver

Nargi’s lighthearted and informative account shows how zoo staff engineered a solution for Karl: a 3-D printed beak. Each step in the process...demonstrates how engineering and science can be combined to solve problems in animal conservation. . . .This volume’s sturdy binding and series nonfiction “look” make it approachable for a variety of readers.

Horn Book

The Hornbill is a living treasure. And so is this spectacular book Karl’s New Beak. Lela Nargi knows that the way to get kids (or grownups for that matter!) to care about birds is through storytelling. A true story with depth and complexity that doesn’t talk down to kids. Karl’s New Beak shows kids that anything is possible through friendship, imagination, and STEM. I loved this book so much that I’m planning a trip to visit Karl at the Smithsonian National Zoo!

Emmy-Award nominated actor Lili Taylor

Readers will root for Karl and the scientists as they work on the beak and try to make it fit. The author has included many interesting facts about hornbills, the Smithsonian and 3-D printing.

The Children's Book Review

If you have interest in technology, science, and 3-d printing at your library, it's a good title on the topic.

Flying Off My Bookshelf

This uplifting animal story features precise, accessible writing, excellent illustrations (a mix of photos, sketches, and 3-D computer renderings), and STEM connections galore. The text highlights the cross-disciplinary teamwork that went into designing Karl’s new beak without ever bogging down the text with obvious lessons. Kids will undoubtedly find this account of science, nature, and compassion fascinating.

Booklist

Engineering and technology align with science in this true story about a hornbill named Karl. . . .a fantastic story of trial and error, persistence, and real-life problem-solving!

Imagination Soup

2018-12-05

Using a 3-D printer, zoo employees construct a prosthesis for an injured bird.

At the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C., staff members are concerned with the feeding difficulties of Karl, an Abyssinian ground hornbill living in the cheetah exhibit. Hoping to restore his ability to eat normally so they can breed him, they come up with a solution for his broken bottom beak. They mend it using a pattern from a museum skeleton and 3-D printing technology. A number of recent titles for young readers describe the work of humans to make lives better for injured or abandoned animals. Unusually, here the special focus is on the process: the complicated and painstaking repair of Karl's lower beak, including the construction of its replacement part. Thoughtful design makes this very clear: Illustrations cleverly combine actual photographs with drawings and diagrams, printed in blue and white like blueprints. Readers see Karl in his enclosure, before-and-after close-ups, and the veterinarian, exhibits specialist, and exhibit curator (all white-presenting) who work together to restore the beak. There are also photos of the printing process as well as sanding and gluing the new bill. The straightforward text introduces the bird, explains how hornbills use their beaks in the wild, and follows the process step by step. Backmatter includes more facts about hornbills in the wild and about Karl in particular as well as a glossary with unusually helpful definitions.

For fans of animal-rescue accounts and 21st-century technology. (Informational picture book. 5-9)

Kirkus Reviews