Customer Reviews

The Bird House

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Children are fascinated by this beautifully illustrated picture book about a homeless young girl who discovers a house where birds gather. Cynthia Rylant's beautiful prose makes this an excellent read-aloud.It has been a favorite in our school library, and has led to many interesting discussions and written responses.

A young girl who has no family and no friends is drawn to a blue house which stands alone by a river. All types of birds love this house, as the girl observes: they too are drawn to it - sparrows, swallows, wrens, hummingbirds, and a great barred owl who never flies away from the house. An old woman comes out of the house, and the girl is too afraid to approach her. The girl continues to observe the house from a safe distance. Eventually, with the help of the barn owl, the girl is united with the old woman, and we can see that the girl has been accepted into a home that is right for her, a house with birds who love and trust this old woman.

I am drawn to this story for several reasons. First, Cynthia Rylant is one of my favorite authors for children. She is a graceful, natural storyteller, and this story is no exception. The illustrations by Barry Moser are really beautiful and fit the text perfectly. Yes, there's some magic realism in the story (for example, the birds at one point spell out "girl" in the sky so that the young girl can see it) but it's well done and fits the folklore-ish feel of the story. I also like it because it's just the right length for a picture book for grades K-2. I can see it working really well for a stand-alone storytime which would last about 5-10 minutes.