Mole and the Baby Bird - Hardcover

Newman, Marjorie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1582347840 ISBN 13: 9781582347844

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, 2002

Synopsis

Mole finds and lovingly cares for a wounded baby bird. As the bird recovers, Mole's mother explains that soon the bird will fly. But Mole wants to keep the bird, so he builds it a cage. Then, one beautifully clear day, Grandad takes Mole for a walk to the top of a high hill where Mole can feel the wind whipping around him. "I'm flying!" he says. When Mole returns home, he looks at the caged baby bird, finally understands that birds are meant to fly, and sets his baby bird free.

The extraordinary team of author Marjorie Newman and illustrator Patrick Benson has created a book that speaks to the delicate nature of love and freedom. This is a book for the ages, and one to treasure for a lifetime.

About this title

Review

This sweet, simple story from Marjorie Newman (The King and the Cuddly) and award-winning Scottish illustrator Patrick Benson (The Sea-Thing Child) somehow avoids cliché while teaching one of life's oldest lessons: if you love something, you really shouldn't hold it prisoner in a tiny, handmade wooden cage.

With spare text, Newman explains how Mole finds a baby bird that has fallen out of its nest, apparently abandoned. ("Mole waited and waited, but no big bird came to help it.") He takes the tiny bird home to keep, despite his parents' warnings: "'It's my pet bird,' said Mole. 'It's not a pet bird. It's a wild bird,' said his mother." Eventually, the baby bird tries to fly, and the earnest, industrious Mole builds a cage (with the bird's help!) to keep him from leaving. ("He put the bird into its new cage. The bird was sad. Mole's mother was sad, too. But Mole kept his bird, because he loved it.") Eventually, it falls to visiting Grandad to gently nudge Mole into doing what he knows he must.

As in The Sea-Thing Child (with Russell Hoban), Benson's understated artwork helps to keep this fairly adult message accessible for wee ones, with thoughtful compositions that carry the meter towards the book's inevitable end. But Benson's most memorable accomplishment is the subtly sad and comic baby bird, who regularly peeks out to look directly at the reader. (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes

About the Author

Marjorie Newman began writing stories as early as age seven and has since published about 90 books for children.

Patrick Benson was born in 1956 and was educated at Eton. He has illustrated over 24 titles including The Little Boat by Kathy Henderson, which won the 1995 Kurt Maschler Award, was short-listed for the 1995 Smarties Book Prize and was Highly Commended for the 1995 Kate Greenaway Medal. He is also the illustrator of the runaway bestseller, Owl Babies.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1582347840
• ISBN 13: 9781582347844
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Benson Patrick