Conversations with Cosmo: At Home with an African Grey Parrot

In CONVERSATIONS WITH COSMO: AT HOME WITH AN AFRICAN GREY PARROT, Betty Jean Craige tells the story of her parrot's education in the language and culture of her human friends. Cosmo is a seven-year-old female Congo African Grey Parrot who by the age of six had learned more than a hundred words and had uttered more than two hundred different phrases, makes up her own phrases, and is still learning. Craige recounts how Cosmo learned to talk, developed social skills and a sense of humor, and became an adorable feathery little person, a real party animal. Cosmo is funny-her first joke was "Telephone for bird!"-and so is Craige. Craige's purpose in writing this very entertaining book is not only to report and explain her parrot's acquisition of language and it's cognitive abilities, but also-through Cosmo's story-to awaken readers to the mental activities of all the animals with whom we humans share space on our planet. The book has a preface by Irene Pepperberg, author of THE ALEX STUDIES and ALEX AND ME, and two appendices: a list of "Cosmo's Utterances" and a list of "Forty-Four Tips for Living with an African Grey" and an index.

Dr. Betty Jean Craige is Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature at the University of Georgia. She has published academic books in the fields of literature, poetry translation (from Spanish), history of ideas, and art. Her non-academic books include Conversations with Cosmo: At Home with an African Grey Parrot (2010); four Witherston Murder Mysteries: Downstream (2014), Fairfield's Auction (2016), Dam Witherston (2017), and Saxxons in Witherston (forthcoming, July 8, 2019); and Aldo (2018).

Downstream received 5 stars from Readers' Favorite. Fairfield's Auction won 1st place in the category of Murder and Mayhem in the 2018 Chanticleer International Book Awards. Dam Witherston was named Winner of the 2018 New York City Big Book Awards in the Mystery category, Honorable Mention in Mystery in the 2017 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards, and Distinguished Favorite in Mystery in the 2018 Independent Press Awards. Aldo was named Distinguished Favorite in the 2018 New York City Big Book Awards in the Mystery category, Second Place in both Mystery and Science Fiction in the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards, and Distinguished Favorite in Crime Fiction in the 2019 Independent Press Awards. Saxxons in Witherston received 5 stars from Readers' Favorite and 4 stars from Clarion.

Betty Jean lives in Athens, Georgia, with Cosmo, her very smart, very talkative, very funny African Grey Parrot. Visit her website: http://bettyjeancraigebooks.weebly.com/