An exuberant celebration of birds of all kinds—mostly recognizable species (chicken, flamingo, swan, parrot, starling, penguin, ostrich, peacock) but some imaginary.
This is vintage Cousins, although absent her abiding protagonist, the lively mouse Maisy. The tone is set with the opening spread: “Can you imagine… / just for one day… / you’re a busy bird? / Yes, a bird! / Hooray!” Cousins’ unique handmade style, characterized by a bright, highly saturated color palette and scratchy black outlines, together with the charming rhyming narrative in easy-to-read bold handwriting, will give preschoolers lots of inspiration for exploring bird behaviors and imitating bird sounds. It’s easy to imagine using this as a starting point for a bird-themed activity with a group. The text exhorts readers to “Flap your wings” and “Hop, hop, hop”; to “swim along / and / stretch / up / your / neck”; to “Scratch the ground / with your feet,” and “Catch / a / fly / with / your / beak.” The cozy ending showing a baby parrot cuddling up close with Mama in his nest and the rear endpapers of sleeping birds are perfect for naptime.
All in all, it’s a great way to introduce bird behavior without lecturing—young children will feel like hopping, pecking, and soaring with these exuberant feathered friends. (Picture book. 2-4)
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