A young boy named Hoben scours the island for the Åga — the Mariana crow, one of the region's most elusive birds — guided by his Uncle Gatbo and a lot of patient watching. That simple quest is the heart of "Is That an Åga?", a new children's book from the University of Guam Press that doubles as a gentle introduction to the birds of the Mariana Islands.
The press launched the title on October 17, and it marks a first for the university: it's their debut children's board book, built to survive sticky hands as well as spark curiosity. Author Emily Louina Cook wrote the story, with illustrations by Joanne F. Almajose, a Guam-born artist and University of Guam alumna whose artwork brings the islands' birds and scenery to the page.
The book grew out of Cook's environmental education work. While completing her graduate degree, she built an avian ecological literacy curriculum for an elementary school on Rota, centred on the Åga. Along the way she noticed a gap: there were almost no picture books introducing kids to the birds of the Marianas. So she set out to make them herself, starting with this one.
Why should travellers care? Because the Mariana Islands — Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan — are one of the Pacific's most overlooked wildlife destinations, and their birdlife has a dramatic backstory. The Åga itself is a striking example: the Mariana crow now survives only on Rota, having vanished from Guam decades ago after the invasive brown trees snake arrived. Bird-focused travellers who make the trip north can combine forest walks and reef time with a genuinely rare wildlife sighting — and now a charming souvenir that explains the islands' ecology to the kids in tow.
If a trip to the Marianas isn't on the cards, the book still works as a window into a part of the Pacific that rarely gets attention in children's publishing. And for anyone passing through Guam, the University of Guam Press catalogue is a good place to find local writing that goes deeper than the resort brochure. A children's board book won't replace a field guide, but as a way to get young travellers looking up into the trees instead of down at a screen, it does the job.
