SAN ANTONIO, TX - March 18th, 2026 - Cedric D. Fisher & Company Publishers, a San Antonio-based leader in diverse publishing and author promotion, today announces the relaunch of Oscar the Osprey: The Bird Who Was Afraid of Heights by Edward Martin Polansky — the first book in a six-title children's series spanning a decade of publication (2015–2025) that has earned acclaim from Kirkus Reviews and Literary Titan for its rare approach to teaching courage, resilience, and character to young readers ages 6 and up.
The Bird Who Was Afraid of Heights tells the story of Oscar, a young osprey living near Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park who suffers from a crippling fear of heights: an ironic and potentially fatal condition for a bird designed to soar. Told entirely in Oscar's first-person voice across four seasons, the narrative follows Oscar as he endures relentless teasing from siblings Otto and Oprah, the disapproval of the flock's Elder Council, and the heartbreak of being left behind when his family migrates south for winter. Alone at a frozen lake, Oscar faces starvation, isolation, and a terrifying attack by three timber wolves before an accidental discovery in a blinding snowstorm changes everything. He returns in spring as the first osprey in the flock's history to survive a winter on his own.
"This is not a story about magically conquering fear. Oscar never fully overcomes his acrophobia - he adapts, he invents, and he discovers that what makes him different also makes him extraordinary," says Cedric D. Fisher, CEO and Publisher. "That's a message children desperately need to hear, and it's why we're proud to give this series the expanded platform it deserves."
The series originated during a family vacation when Polansky's oldest son, feeling queasy on a suspension bridge roughly 1,000 feet above the Arkansas River at the Royal Gorge in Colorado, made a remark his father never forgot: "It would really suck, if you were a bird and afraid of heights." That moment, combined with a park ranger's observation about ospreys at Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons and his wife's suggestion to write about one, planted the seed for what would become a six-book series. Polansky - a Certified Public Accountant with over forty years of experience at Ernst & Young, his own firm, and Weaver and Tidwell LLP, and currently Chairman of the Board at Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in Texas, wrote the original manuscript on an Apple II Plus in the early 1980s but did not formally publish until 2015.
Kirkus Reviews praised the book and its series for refusing to resolve Oscar's fear in a predictable way, noting that rather than triumphing over his limitations, Oscar learns to adapt to them and turn them into strengths, and called its combination of sympathetic hero, engaging illustrations, and strong message a must-have for families, schools, and communities. Literary Titan compared it to classic children's literature and highlighted its rare self-reliance lesson. All six books in the series feature distinctive black-and-white pen-and-ink illustrations by award-winning San Antonio artist Jean Rosow, whose style Kirkus compared to Jules Feiffer.
The complete Oscar the Osprey series includes: The Bird Who Was Afraid of Heights (2015), The Bird with a Conundrum (2019), His Diminutive Sister (2020), His Daunting Decision (2022), The Eagle Calamity (2023), and The Council Quandary (2025). Each book addresses a distinct life lesson: courage, honesty, empathy, leadership, conflict resolution, and community; and stands alone while contributing to a larger narrative arc.
Available in paperback and digital formats on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell's, Walmart, and at www.oscartheosprey.com.
About Cedric D. Fisher & Company Publishers
Cedric D. Fisher & Company Publishers LLC specializes in diverse voices and untold stories. With nearly 20 years in publishing and marketing, the company provides full-service support for authors whose work advances important conversations about identity, resilience, and community.
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