CLick for signed COPY OF THE Backyard Bird Chronicles

JOURNAL PREORDER SPECIAL! Free affirmation card & signed bookplate.

Make your Special Pre-order by 7/30. Affirmation card and bookplate sent with journal delivery in November.

WHAT’S COMING

Find Your Inner Nature Journaler

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

I designed my dream journal for drawing birds and writing observations. I chose the paper, size, format, prompts and tips on tools. You don’t need talent to get started. You only need to pay attention, be curious and ask questions.

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

Pre-order your journal by July 30, 2025 and receive a personalized bookplate and affirmation card illustrated with a hummingbird: “Perfection can be the antithesis of spontaneity.”

A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

Wander, Wonder, Wow. By being curious and asking questions, you can live more deeply in nature. An introduction gives you tips on getting started, what to notice, and where to find free resources.

PERSONALIZED BOOKS!

PERSONALIZED BOOKS! Place an order at Book Passage for THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES and add the name(s) you wish to have inscribed in your books or on a bookplate. Click below to order.

CLICK to ORDER PERSONALIZED BOOKS

OWL POSTERS, OWL TEE-SHIRTS, BACKYARD BIRDS POSTER, and BIRD STICKERS

Wild Wonder Foundation has merchandise available using my art. Sales help to support this non-profit organization dear to my heart. You can also find free video classes by John Muir Laws, as well as the books I used to learn how to do natural journaling and drawing: The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds and The Laws Guide to Nature Journaling and Drawing.

WILD WONDER

Advance Praise for THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES

“What an enchanting and illuminating book! How lucky for us that Amy Tan has turned her genius, her deep empathy and insight, her keen eye for what is telling, to birds. Every page of these chronicles radiates warm curiosity, wonder, and delight.”
—Jennifer Ackerman, The Genius of Birds

“With this book as your guide, embark into the bird world Amy Tan. This is an intimate view, a sort-of love affair with the birds and their behavior, that Amy has come to know over several years. Within the leafy universe of her own backyard, she has quietly beheld, patiently observed, and taken in-depth notations of an extensive array of bird species. In colorful detail, she describes various bird’s behavior, while capturing their beauty in exquisitely rendered illustrations. Species include fearsome predators and watchful prey, long distance migrants and hometown residents. Through her unique insight and gift as an author and artist, Amy exposes a world of intrigue, beauty, even humor about the birds we all share this world with.”
—Keith Hansen, author of Hansen’s Field Guide to Birds of the Sierra Nevada

“Amy Tan’s bird journals can change the way you see the world. They show that stories, mysteries, humor, and beauty are all around us if we take the time to pay attention. They remind us that we never stop learning and growing, and if we put in the work, we can learn and master new skills. These journals invite us to look out of our own windows with fresh eyes and wonder.”
—John Muir Laws, author of The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds

“Backyard Bird Chronicles is fun reading. It shows how we can become engaged emotionally, literally and artistically with the natural world—to joyfully learn about the most accessible and yet wild animals, the often rare and beautiful birds that choose to come and live near and sometimes with us.” —Bernd Heinrich, author of Mind of the Raven

“Delightful . . . Tan’s lovely graphite and colored pencil drawings reveal yet another side of the multitalented author . . . Her depictions of their habits and foibles are laced with considerable wit . . . Her bird chronicles are fun, too — and informative.”
—Heller McAlpin, Los Angeles Times

“Much of great writing comes from great interest, and in The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan shows us how the world fascinates her, especially the birds. The result is both unexpected and spectacular.”
—Ann Patchett, author of These Precious Days

“This is one of the most infectious and convincing books about nature I’ve read. For the bird-watcher, the would-be bird-watcher, or for the bird-watching skeptic, this offers great delight and unexpected intrigue. Through Tan’s ecstatic eyes, what could be a dry treatise on ornithological happenings becomes something far more fun and much more profound. It’s really a book about seeing.” —Dave Eggers, author of Ungrateful Mammals

“If you promise me a witty birder book—birds as windows on life!!!—then great, and if the great Amy Tan is writing it, even better. The perfect antidote (with illustrations!) to whatever these past few years have been.” —Lit Hub, “Most Anticipated Books of 2024”

“If you really want to understand something, draw it. That’s the conclusion I’ve reached in witnessing how much Amy Tan has learned about the bird community in her back yard. No matter how much you think you know about birds, you are guaranteed to learn something surprising and inspiring from this charmingly illustrated and creatively-conceived book.” —Michael J. Parr, President of American Bird Conservancy

“Anybody even mildly interested in birds, or thinking about getting interested in birds (which are, after all, the indicator genus for the health of the planet), will want this book perched on their shelf, if only for the gift of Amy Tan’s eye and the example she gives us of how to pay attention. What a treasure.” —Robert Hass, Pulitzer Prize-Winning author of Summer Snow: New Poems

“A charming bird journey . . . [Tan] fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches . . . An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.” —Kirkus

JOURNAL PREORDER SPECIAL! Free affirmation card & signed bookplate.

WHAT’S COMING

Find Your Inner Nature Journaler

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

Author

AMY TAN

PERSONALIZED BOOKS!

PERSONALIZED BOOKS! Place an order at Book Passage for THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES and add the name(s) you wish to have inscribed in your books or on a bookplate. Click below to order.

OWL POSTERS, OWL TEE-SHIRTS, BACKYARD BIRDS POSTER, and BIRD STICKERS

What possessed me to watch and draw birds?

Advance Praise for THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES

JOURNAL PREORDER SPECIAL! Free affirmation card & signed bookplate.

WHAT’S COMING

Find Your Inner Nature Journaler

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

FREE SIGNED or PERSONALIZED BOOKPLATE

A PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

Author

AMY TAN

PERSONALIZED BOOKS!

PERSONALIZED BOOKS! Place an order at Book Passage for THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES and add the name(s) you wish to have inscribed in your books or on a bookplate. Click below to order.

OWL POSTERS, OWL TEE-SHIRTS, BACKYARD BIRDS POSTER, and BIRD STICKERS

What possessed me to watch and draw birds?

social media

Advance Praise for THE BACKYARD BIRD CHRONICLES

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