Petunia Paris’s Parrot
Katie Howarth and Jo Williamson
Templar Publishing
Petunia is one indulged infant: she has everything she could possibly want – a swimming pool, countless toys, a thousand dresses, her own library (well maybe that’s not spoiling) and even a bike with chauffeur …

It ‘s no surprise then that when her parents ask what she’d like for her 5^th birthday, the young miss cannot really come up with anything. “… a parrot, please …” she replies, that being the first thing that came to mind.
Come her birthday a lavish party is duly organised and the parrot presented –

a Peruvian scarlet macaw.
Once the final guest has departed, young Petunia sets about teaching the bird to talk, a task she finds a whole lot more difficult than she’d anticipated. Fancy foods, pertinent conversation topics, piano playing and outlandish outfits are all resounding failures: “Squarrk!” being the parrot’s only response. After months of failure Petunia finally loses it, stamping, stomping and yelling …

Silence from the parrot: a suggestion from the butler. “Suppose you try asking him nicely, Miss Paris?” Miss Paris does and receives the following response:
“I DO NOT WANT a perfectly presented pile of prawns. I DO NOT WANT a pleasantly played piano. I DO NOT WANT to ponder parrot philosophy. I DO NOT WANT to wear a pink parrot poncho. I DO NOT WANT ANY of it, Petunia Paris!”
Well that certainly told her but she asks one final question and learns the parrot’s softly spoken, heartfelt wish, “I want to go home.”
One year later Petunia’s parents ask her the usual ‘what would you like for your birthday?’ question and this time, Petunia has an answer at the ready …
With its plethora of alliterative ‘p’ words, the predominantly deadpan text is a real delight to read aloud. The alliteration is even picked up playfully by Jo Williamson in one of her delectable retro style illustrations …

For the most part she restricts herself to a limited colour palette with just splashes of blue or pink (apart from the parrot) but breaks into glorious technicolour in the final fold-out spread of the Peruvian parrot paradise, of which I’ll say no more for fear of being a story spoiler. This is definitely one not to be missed.

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