birds

Review: Little Bird Takes a Bath by Marisabina Russo

| Tasha

little bird takes a bath 

Little Bird Takes a Bath by Marisabina Russo

Little Bird hates the rain and it was raining on his nest high above the city. The next morning though, the rain was gone and it was a lovely day. It was the perfect day for a bath! But the trouble was finding the right puddle. Some puddles were too big, some too small, and others were too crowded with other bathers. Then Little Bird found just the right puddle on a path in the park. But over and over again he got interrupted during his bathing. There was a bouncing ball, a little girl in flip flops, and a dog. By the time they had all gone through his puddle, it was far too small to bathe in. Little Bird flew up above the city, then spotted a fountain that looked like it was just the right size for a little bird.

Russo’s picture book is gentle and echoes traditional stories. She incorporates repetition and the mirroring of Goldilocks finding things that were “just right” adds much to the story. As the different things interrupt Little Bird’s bath, they are shown by the noise they make and then the reader turns the page to see what is making that noise. This little touch makes the book more dynamic and interactive for young listeners.

Russo’s art is just as inviting as the story she weaves. She makes sure that readers know that this is a city bird both in the text and the illustrations. Her images move from close ups of Little Bird to most distant images of the cityscape and how Little Bird flies across it. This change of scale makes the book interesting and children will enjoy seeing the path of Little Bird as he locates puddles and fountains in the city.

A great pick for rainy read alouds, this book will be welcome at toddler and preschool story times. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Edelweiss and Schwartz & Wade.

Review: Beautiful Birds by Jean Roussen

| Tasha

beautiful birds

Beautiful Birds by Jean Roussen, illustrated by Emmanuelle Walker

This alphabet book features one amazing bird after another shown in both playful and gorgeous illustrations. The book is told in rhyming couplets that feature a little information about each species of bird. The birds are exotic, featuring jacana, kakapo, and quetzal. They are mixed with backyard birds like robin, geese, nuthatches, and woodpeckers. Each one is given their own page on which to shine.

The rhyming couplets create a book that has a jaunty swing to it, moving swiftly from one bird to the next. The rhymes are well done, neither filled with sing-song tones or too forced. Instead they add a touch of humor to the book, a feeling of not taking themselves too seriously. The result is a light-hearted mix of silliness and feathers.

The illustrations by Walker form the heart of this book. Each page displays plumage with a grand style. Done with a modern feel, the illustrations are stylized and strong. One of my favorite pages has the color of doves changing to ducks along the page break.

Stylish, jaunty and fun, this alphabet bird book is no feather weight. Appropriate for ages 4-6.

Reviewed from digital galley received from Flying Eye Books.

Review: Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton

| Tasha

shh we have a plan

Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton

The author of Little Owl Lost returns with another great picture book in his signature style.  In this book, four people head into the forest with nets at night.  There, they find a gorgeous red bird.  The littlest of them calls out “hello, birdie” but the others shush him and declare that they have a plan and show the cage they are holding.  They slowly tiptoe up to the bird, count off and jump!  But the bird flies up into a tree.  No worries, they have another plan.  And when that fails, another and another.  Finally, the smallest of them comes up with a plan that just might work, or maybe not.

This book is a stupendous read aloud.  The chipper, bright voice of the littlest of them, the hushed shushing from the others, the counting off and finally the shout of GO!  This happens again and again and will keep even the wiggliest of children paying close attention.  Even better, the little one is the one who figures things out and presents a solution.  Add at the end a wonderful twist to continue the story, and you have an outstanding picture book for sharing.

Haughton’s illustrations are created digitally but have the feel and texture of cut paper.  He uses beautifully deep blues throughout the nighttime story and then the bright red of the bird pops.  It also helps that the bird seems to live in its own beam of light, one that follows it as it escapes again and again.  It’s a clever use of stage lighting in a picture book.

A top pick for sharing aloud, this picture book is a dazzling dark delight.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Bluebird by Lindsey Yankey

| Tasha

bluebird

Bluebird by Lindsey Yankey

Bluebird has never flown without the company of her friend, the wind.  She just can’t bring herself to try to fly without the wind’s help, so she sets off on a quest to find the wind before she flies.  There was no wind blowing the seeds off the dandelions, no wind lifting the kite to the sky, no wind rippling the willow leaves.  Heading into the city, Bluebird found that the newspaper pages weren’t being blown by the wind at all and even a balloon was being moved by a child rather than the wind.  Bluebird decided to look higher, but even from above the flags were drooping on the flagpoles and the sailboats were not racing.  Bluebird landed on a roof and wished deeply for her friend to return, and that’s when she noticed that she’d been flying for some time without the wind to help her! 

Yankey’s text captures both the wishing for what the wind does every day and also how things are without the wind blowing.  The contrast between what Bluebird knows the wind does and how things are when they are still is wonderfully written with simplicity and grace.  The entire book has a jaunty brisk pace that will remind readers of a good stiff wind blowing along the pages and moving the story along.

The illustrations in this picture book set it apart.  They are an amazing mix of collage, pencil, ink, block print and paint.  The result is a richness of styles that zing on the page next to one another and create a world that is unique.  Somehow those divergent components form a cohesion feel on the page that is mesmerizing.

A perfect read for a breezy day, this book will invite everyone to find the confidence to fly.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Vanilla Ice Cream by Bob Graham

| Tasha

vanilla ice cream

Vanilla Ice Cream by Bob Graham

This is a story of the journey of a sparrow from a rural truck-stop in India to a metropolis in the south.  Told in simple writing, readers follow the sparrow as he tries to steal food from a customer of the truck stop.  Then he flies aboard a truck carrying bags of rice.  The rice is loaded aboard a ship and the sparrow follows the food aboard.  They head south and he is able to find food and water on the long slow journey.  When the sparrow arrives in the city, he spots Edie Irvine, a toddler walking with her grandparents.  And so the two worlds of sparrow and child mash together in a wonderfully sweet way.

Graham has created a story built upon little moments and small decisions.  Happily, the culmination of the story is not about all of those moments building to something monumental, but instead they lead to another small and lovely moment.  In that way, the chain is continued rather than ended and readers can think about what might happen next to either the characters or to themselves. 

As always, Graham has written this book with a gentle touch.  His art reflects that as well with its soft color palette set against white backgrounds blushed with colors.  Graham also uses art to allow moments to linger longer, to show their importance, and to create drama in his story. 

A book of small moments that is certainly worth spending some time of your own reading.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: Telephone by Mac Barnett

| Tasha

telephone

Telephone by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jen Corace

A mother bird wants her son Peter to come home for dinner, so she sends the message down the telephone line, literally.  It moves from one bird to the next, but the message immediately gets garbled as each bird adds their own take.  Readers will notice that each bird has its own interests that are added to the message and that the illustrations give hints about the topics that will be included that time.  This is a clever twist on the children’s game of telephone, one that has hilarious results and a resoundingly satisfying ending.

Barnett takes a simple concept in this picture book and makes it extraordinary.  His humor is great, making sure that each statement passed along by the birds rhymes but also taken huge liberties with the subject matter.  When the ending comes with a silly bird where the message becomes much longer and incorporates all sorts of things from earlier messages, it makes for a brilliant break in the pattern that sets the final message up perfectly.

Corace’s art is wonderful.  She shows the birds in silhouette on the wire, indicating early to readers what the story will be about.  The illustrations range from close ups of the birds on the wire to more distant shots that show the human neighborhood beneath the wire.  It is all done with great energy, humor and bright colors.

A winning picture book that is clever, funny and simply wonderful.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Chronicle Books.

Review: Froodle by Antoinette Portis

| Tasha

froodle

Froodle by Antoinette Portis

Everyone knows that cats say “Meow” and dogs bark.  The birds is the neighborhood all sand their specific song too.  The little brown bird sang “Peep” every day, all seasons.  Until one day, the little bird decided that she wanted to sing something else.  Something silly!  The big black crow did not think this was funny at all.  The little brown bird tried to go back to singing just “Peep” again, but she just couldn’t stop the silly words from slipping out.  Soon the silliness was spreading and the red bird started saying things too.  Then Dove proved that there could be silly white birds too.  The only one who would not be silly was the very serious Crow.  But we all know that silliness is very contagious!

Clever, clever, clever.  This book takes a very simple premise of one little bird being silly one day and wanting to do something unique and different, and then shows how one small change can have larger ripple effects on a community.  The tone throughout is pure cheer and laughter.  The words that all of the birds come up with are ridiculous and great fun to read aloud.  Children will enjoy working these and other nonsense words into their day.

The illustrations for the book were done in pencil, charcoal and ink with the color added digitally.  The result is a book with a traditional feel mixed with a modern spin.  The colors are flat and bright, the textures give depth, and the birds themselves pop on the backgrounds.

Silly, funny and a delight to read aloud, this book is pure oobly snoobly fun.  Appropriate for ages 2-4.

Reviewed from library copy.

Review: The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuc

| Tasha

lion and the bird

The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuc

One day a lion discovers a hurt bird in his garden.  He bandages the bird’s damaged wing, but then the rest of the bird’s flock flies away, migrating for the winter.  So the lion takes the bird into his home.  Throughout the winter, the bird and the lion spend each day together doing all sorts of things.  And the lion notices that the winter doesn’t seem as cold with a friend along with him.  Then spring arrives and the bird’s wing has mended, so the bird heads off to join its flock as they return for the warm weather.  Lion is once again alone and now he misses his friend.  Lion spends all summer alone, tending his garden.  Then autumn comes again and Lion hopes to see his friend return, but will he?

Dubuc is a Canadian author who is internationally known.  She has a decidedly European vibe to her work with its quietness and the message of larger things written in the small world she creates on the page.  She cleverly shows the passing of the seasons using pages of white that allow space for the time to pass for the reader.  The book is also a lovely riff on The Lion and the Mouse, except in this book the lion is the one doing the kindness for another creature and the payback of the kindness is more delicate in the form of friendship.

Dubuc’s art is exceptional.  Her fine lines show both close-ups of the friends together and also vistas of the world they live in.  There is a feeling of smallness, closeness and a limited world that Lion lives in.  That contrasts with the bird leaving on migration and exiting this close world.

A noteworthy picture book, this new title by Dubuc is charming and warm.  Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Enchanted Lion Books.

Review: Mama Built a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward

| Tasha

mama built a little nest

Mama Built a Little Nest by Jennifer Ward, illustrated by Steve Jenkins

Told in rhyme, this book explores the many different ways that birds create nests for their eggs and babies.  The jaunty rhyme is accompanied by informational text on each species and their habitats and nest building style.  Bird species range from penguins to falcons to flamingos.  There are also more unusual birds like weaverbirds as shown on the cover of the book. 

Ward’s rhyme works well here, offering a playful feel to a book filled with scientific information.  She has also selected a great mix of species with familiar birds mixed in with more exotic ones.  Each has its own unusual way of creating a nest, making this a book where turning the page is part of the adventure.

As always, Jenkins’ cut paper art is spectacular.  He manages to create so much life with textured paper and different colors.  From the subtle colors of a cactus plant to the feathers on an owl’s wing, this art is lovely and makes this book very special.

Intelligently and beautifully presented, this nonfiction picture book will entice young readers to learn even more about birds.  Appropriate for ages 5-8.

Reviewed from copy received from Beach Lane Books.