Tag A Busy Day for Birds

Birdy Board Books

jillrbennett 1 Comment

Tweet! Tweet!
Sebastien Braun
Nosy Crow
Five birds have hidden themselves away for toddlers to discover in Sebastien Braun’s latest addition to the ‘Can You Say It Too? lift-the-flap series. Spring is definitely in the air as sparrow tweets from behind the blossom; the dove coos,
a woodpecker taps, crow caws (is it a nosy one perhaps) and a beautiful peacock screeches – a noise the babes have yet to learn.
Boldly illustrated with more to spot and talk about than just the featured garden birds, and fun sounds to copy, this should amuse toddlers over and over.

Five Little Ducks
Illustrated by Yu-hsuan Huang
Nosy Crow
In my incarnation as a nursery teacher the song on which this book is based was always a firm favourite to sing and sign.
Now illustrator, Yu-hsuan Huang brings a delightful story element to the whole thing in four double spreads of animals enjoying the countryside as the number of ducklings swimming along behind their mother diminishes one by one.
There are sliders to manipulate, talking points aplenty not least being where do the missing ducks disappear to and of course, the song to sing along to.
You’re going to have hours of fun when you share this chunky book with your little one, especially if you scan the QR code to get an audio version of the song on your tablet or smartphone.

A Busy Day for Birds
Lucy Cousins
Walker Books
Not all board book versions of picture books work but here’s one that is equally delightful in a chunky smaller edition for tiny hands because nothing of the original is missing and there is no feeling of cramping either of text or illustrations.
Young children will find it hard to resist Lucy Cousins’ invitation to flap, hop, peck, stretch your neck, swoop, scratch, stand on one leg, waddle, run, wiggle your bum and make a lot of noise with cock-a-doodle-doos , clucks, tweets, hums, cheeps and tuwit tuwoos.
I’ve already reviewed the original hardback so I’ll say no more other than, ‘It’s time to play: be a bird (or several) today!’

A Busy Day for Birds

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A Busy Day for Birds
Lucy Cousins
Walker Books
‘Can you imagine … just for one day … you’re a busy bird? Yes, a bird! Hooray!’ is the invitation issued by Lucy Cousins on the opening spread of her avian offering. Yes, is the answer.  If, like me, you practise yoga regularly, you might well think of being a peacock with a wonderful tail to display…

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or perhaps, a bird like the graceful beauty standing very tall on just one leg shown on the cover.
Every spread though is an invitation to children, not only to delight in her vibrant portraits of some feathered friends but also to create some of their own, using their bodies, with paints, crayons, collage materials, modelling clay, dough or anything else they can think of. And then, there are all the various bird sounds too.
They’ll most definitely relish spreading their wings and trying some swooping like these spotty fliers.

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But there are also invitations to sing, tweet, hum and cheep, to waddle penguin style, to ‘go, go, go!‘ and, to run like an ostrich – who could resist that one, or sitting in a nest and having a ‘cuddle with mum’?
Especially pleasing is the manner of the book’s circularity – starting off ‘being a busy bird day’ with the wake-up call of the cockerel and finishing it with a goodnight bidding from the owl.

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Billed as a follow-up to Hooray for Fish! I think Lucy Cousins has done our winged flappers, swoopers and peckers even prouder: an absolute gem for early years audiences.

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