A Busy Day for Birds

What a wonderful story to read with little ones. Both of my children were immediately excited when I brought this story home, the colours and smiling faces on the front cover caught their attention straight away, and we were not disappointed by the story. I wish I had filmed my son's reaction to the story, the verbs used to explain the actions of each bird had my son acting out each bird much to all of our delight. Author Lucy Cousins has a lovely way of appealing to a younger audience. The story discusses what it would be like if you were a bird - 'can you imagine - just for one day - you're a bird? Page by page different types of birds are beautifully illustrated with exciting verbs used to describe their actions. My son's reaction was to immediately jump up and act out these verbs - exactly what I love about a good story. Starting at the beginning of the day with a cockerel and ending with an owl, the story has a lovely rhythm and rhyme to explore each bird - 'swoop up and down, swoop round and round', exciting a toddler into believing they are in fact a bird. Colourful and easy to read, this story is great for children starting to learn how to read and also for younger ones learning different types of birds - penguins, parrots, owls. The story is big and bold with a simple layout which really makes it very accessible for younger readers. Personally, I really enjoyed how simple it was, as my children were caught up in the actions with less focus on a narrative, which made a nice change for our reading activity. This story is brilliant for day time reading when you want to engage your child in the actions and play together. I would recommend it for ages 18 months - 4 years. Picture book / Ages 2+ / Reviewed by Joanna Hewish, teacher.

Suggested Reading Age 0+