A Surprisingly Fluffy Bird (1) - Softcover

Chapman, Jenny

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1910637017 ISBN 13: 9781910637012

Publisher: An Sithean Press, 2015

Synopsis

Introducing Algy, the most unusual and charming fluffy bird you could ever hope to meet! Algy is completely and utterly lost - at sea! When his tiny raft emerges from the swirling mist, Algy finally sees the rocky coast and hills of a foreign land... but can he manage to reach the shore and survive in this strange new place? This first book in the series of Tales from the Adventures of Algy tells a thrilling story of endurance and achievement; dangers and misfortune overcome; funny, friendly creatures and mean, nasty beasts, and - making his way through it all with endless good humour and a song in his beak - an extraordinary and talented bird, who is, without doubt, surprisingly fluffy.All the stories in the Tales from The Adventures of Algy series are set in the beautiful and remote landscape of the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, where the author lives and works.Also available in a deluxe harback edition (cloth bound with dust jacket), a casebound hardback edition for schools and libraries, and as a Kindle ebook. With colour illustrations by Jenny Chapman. The Tales from the Adventures of Algy series is supported by Algy's web site for children (adventuresofalgy dot com) where young readers can learn about Algy's world, add their own pictures and poetry, ask questions, download colouring sheets, look up words in Algy's online dictionary, and discover many other fluffy surprises.Algy's daily adventures have been presented on a Tumblr blog since March 2012. Now, at last, the most exciting tales inspired by Algy's adventures are being published in book form, to delight children of all ages from 7 to 107. 

About this title

From the Author:

This is a deluxe cloth-bound edition, complete with matte dust jacket and high quality print and colour interior. 

Review:

“Can’t recommend it highly enough – it deserves to become a modern day classic.”

“A charming beautifully written book that leaves you with a ‘feel good’ feeling.”

“...really captures the joys and essence of the scenery and wildlife in the West Highlands.”

"The tale of a bird washed into the sea and carried on driftwood to a strange and wild shore. The soppy title is deceptive as Fluffy Bird is actually about pathfinding, fear, and winning acceptance – the things that really interest children. And adults too. From a bank of seaweed, blocking escape as the tide approaches, to the urgency of relearning to fly as a predator pounces, objects, animals, landscapes and events are a series of dimly grasped but deadly threats, until the escaped hero finally recounts them in ballad form to his new friends, like the shipwrecked wanderer Odysseus to the hospitable Phaeacians. For Phaeacia read the west coast of Scotland. Jenny Chapman writes in verse at least as well as in prose, which is well though not simply. A pleasure for imaginative kids who like stories. Mum and dad will enjoy it too."

From an Amazon TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE VOICE: "It’s not your conventional children’s story, to put it mildly. From page one, Algy is a lost, stranded, endangered bird, scared and confused. He meets a variety of creatures, mostly birds, some friendly, some not so friendly, and all well-observed renditions of common birds of the Western Isles- well, apart from the fact that real birds can’t speak English, but otherwise you know what I mean...
There’s a strong thread of traditional oral storytelling running through the core of the story. At one point Algy effectively pays his way with a song, his own ballad of how he came to be stranded in a strange place (the prose turns into poetry for several pages at this stage). You can easily picture a good folk singer giving the story some real welly at this point.
In keeping with the oral storytelling, sound plays a big part in the story- and in the reading of the story. The sound of the sea is ever-present, and is good fun to read out loud. The cormorants and the seagulls all have dialogue clearly written with their proper bird calls in mind, so if you are reading it out loud, it can become a real impressions-of-birds performance piece."

 

About this edition

• Publisher: An Sithean Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1910637017
• ISBN 13: 9781910637012
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 126
• Illustrator: Chapman Jenny