Customer Reviews

Charlie Bird

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Linda Bird has started a series of books about pet appreciation with a very colorful short illustrated story CHARLIE BIRD: THE BEST BIRD EVER and was kind enough to forward a copy to this reader for input. The book is large in scale (11" X 8 1/2"), on quality paper, and is laid out in a format that makes it a terrific book for children to hold and read (or have it read to them).

Charlie is a Jenday Conure small parrot, richly colorful both in plumage and personality. And because the parrot belongs to the author, the story she elects to share is the interaction between Charlie and her two little girls Molly and Sara. Using a combination of photographs and drawings of Charlie we are informed of the bird's idiosyncrasies, his daily habits and his antics in eating and playing with human food and accessories. The manner of relating the story is fresh and imaginative and serves as not only the adventures of a perky bird, but also references similarities in human behavior - a solid bit of learning here.

Where this reader has a bit of difficulty with the book is the intermittent alteration between Charlie's relating to his owners (very realistically and entertainingly written) and his relationship to his other bird friends: in chapters four and six Charlie converses with his bird buddies and the tender household observations are replaced by fantasy. It seems the story would be more appropriate for young readers if the slant were consistent: reality or fantasy, but mixing the two can befuddle concentration.

In all this is a well-designed and written book (with the exceptions outlined above) and for a first volume in what will obviously be a popular series, CHARLIE BIRD succeeds in a different kind of realm. Youngsters will love it - and bird aficionados will get a chuckle from Charlie's humanoid behavior! Grady Harp, February 08

Charlie Bird is a small parrot, formally known as a Jenday Conure or a Jenday Parakeet. Charlie Bird, like other birds of his species, is sociable and loves handling by humans. Indeed, we will soon learn that Charlie Bird loves his featherless flock a lot, and Charlie Bird learns that living the wild life is not all it is cracked up to be.

We learn a lot about Charlie Bird's routine. Charlie Bird is quite a character. He enjoys playing a variety of games involving toilet paper, blankets, toothpaste tubes and caps, and cereal. I suspect that Charlie Bird requires a fair amount of effort to keep out of trouble. On the other hand, perhaps some people enjoy toilet paper snow. It certainly looked decorative!

Many of Charlie Bird's antics were amusing. The picture of Charlie Bird after his bath is hilarious. Charlie Bird also has a knack for helping his friends Molly and Sara do their homework. Charlie seems to be a budding computer expert, and the computer mouse is quite a specialty of his.

On the other hand, Charlie Bird has other pursuits other than decorating the house and helping Sara and Molly with their homework. When strangers enter the house, Charlie defends Molly and Sara from such threatening individuals as refrigerator repairmen. Charlie may not have a bark, but he will bite!

In chapters 4, 5 and 6, we follow Charlie Bird on an incredible journey. Charlie dreams of being free in the wild outdoors. A wild bird named Rusty dreams of being in a safe place with unlimited food. With a little bird magic, Charlie and Rusty trade places. Soon, each learns that the other's world contains benefits, but also contains drawbacks, and soon each wishes they were back where they belonged.

I thought this story was cute and clever. I particularly enjoyed Charlie Bird's adventures in the wild. Linda Bird spiced the story with excitement, but kept the excitement sufficiently tame that even the youngest children listening to this story will be intrigued rather than frightened. I also think that this portion of the story is a great place to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of our modern society. It may look great to live in the woods, but there are definitely down sides!

Enjoy!

Note: The author provided me with a review copy of this book.

Linda Bird captures the hearts of children and children at heart with her charming, delightful, and highly enjoyable book about the life and antics of her pet parrot whose name is "Charlie." Charlie is quite a character and very intelligent. Her children Sara and Mollie are depicted as two adorable dolls (literally) in the beautiful illustrations (actual photos) that provide the vivid colorful visuals which heighten the appeal of this amazing book. Numerous photos, two or three per page, accompany each paragraph about Charlie's life. The photos clearly prove that Charlie has endeared himself to this family and he will endear himself to readers of every age who discover this book.

What I love most about this book is how Linda so cleverly uses colorful photos of Charlie in many poses as she describes his everyday activities. First, there is the cover photo where Charlie looks like an inquisitive professor. He has a tilted head, lime green feathers that include a blue stripe on each wing and no one can miss his chest which is a bright neon orange hue, all lit up. The first part of this book describes Charlie's favorite escapades, one of which is to hide in a cave created by a crumpled blanket. He also loves to eat some of Sara's peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. One of the best and most amusing photos is the one where Charlie is pecking at toilet paper, creating a very fine lace-like pattern with bites of his beak. We are told Charlie loves to chew objects, forbidden objects, in fact, the more forbidden, the more Charlie seems to find a method of chewing the verbotten item.

In the second half of the book, Linda writes a lovely fictional story in which Charlie exchanges places with one of the wild birds who visit him daily, when he sits in his cage and looks out the window. Linda creatively shows how Charlie wishes to try out a new lifestyle one that is more risky and dangerous than his current one. The author shows how this pampered and well cared for bird dreams of an adventurous life as he sits on his perch watching the wild birds in the yard, searching for food and taking a bath. Charlie learns from experience by changing places with one of the wild birds, that the grass is not always greener on the other side. In the end, Charlie asks to be turned back into a tame bird, to return to his previous life ... and his wish comes true! He develops a new appreciaton for his family and a new admiration for how the wild birds live. This is a most highly recommended book primarily for children ages 3 - 10 years. Although, anyone who has ever owned and cared for a pet bird would fall in love with Charlie and this book. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]

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Kid Tested and passed with A's everywhere.

This is an unusual book which incorporates text with pictures inserted rather than illustrations. Linda Bird tells the story of her own bird through several chapters (for the kids who want chap books), and a delightful array of pictures that can only be the real deal; cropped and dropped in the proper place in the paragraphs.

Charlie Bird is a small parrot, a Jenday Conure. His human sisters are Sara (age 9) and Molly (age 7). I mention the ages because these are the exact ages of the girls I read the book to and they loved it!

On the quixotic edge, the mischievous little Charlie makes friends with four wild birds -- and then in an almost human way, the pranks begin. Charlie trades places with one of wild birds, Rusty, the ring leader.

The girls I read it to were delighted in the story, the antics, and the pictures. Also, they learned about a bird, which is the best gift a child can receive. Not just the joy of reading, but finding out there is something in a small chap book that gives them knowledge.

Enjoy this with a child or on your own.

Victoria Tarrani
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Charlie Bird: The Best Bird Ever is a book aimed at elementary school age children and it is based on the author's experience with her beloved pet parrot named Charlie. The book is fictional in nature, but real- life experiences have certainly influenced much of the material in this book, making it a little more realistic than its genre suggests.

This book tells the story of Charlie Bird, a feisty, fun- loving family bird who interacts with the kids in the household, gets himself into trouble, and ultimately finds out what life is like on the "other" side when he switches places with an outdoor bird who is a friend of his. The book is intended for those in early grade school and it will appeal most to those children age five and up. As for the writing and telling of the story, there are more words than I expected in this children's book and the flow isn't consistent from page to page. Some children will grow impatient as they wait for the page to be turned and other children may get lost in some of the book's messages. Older kids will easily pick up on the book's main message- that the grass is not always greener on the other side- but this will fly completely over the head of other kids. Also, the fact that Charlie is a family bird who suddenly gets a wish granted from a sorceress an odd twist. The book depicts actual pictures of Charlie Bird and the dialogue seems realistic and family- friendly. Then, all of a sudden, Charlie Bird is getting a wish granted to him from a white dove who happens to be a sorceress. It seems a little out of place.

Illustrations are very important to a children's book, and if they are good enough, they can often make any children's book worthwhile. Unfortunately, the illustrations offered in Charlie Bird are not the greatest. Some of the illustrations are drawings while others are actual pictures. I don't like this type of mixture and I would have preferred the book stick with one or the other. The other thing I don't like is the quality of the pictures. The actual photos are often blurred and many of them look like they were hand- cut from an actual printed photograph and then photocopied onto the pages of this book.

Overall, Charlie Bird is an acceptable children's book with an equal number of good and bad points. The book's main message- that conditions in other places are not always as great as they sound- and its side message about pet appreciation are both positive and worthwhile. But the illustrations and certain aspects of the storyline take away from the enjoyment of Charlie Bird. In many ways, I think the book would have been better if written as a non- fiction book about this bird and his interaction with the family. But it was written as a fictional children's book and in its present context, it is only average overall.

Meet Charlie Bird! Charlie is a Jenday Conure. A smallish, colorful parrot that lives with two sweet girls who treat Charlie just like a human being and a big part of their family. Join Charlie and his family and friends for a day in the life of a well loved pet parrot. This book is recommended reading for ages 9 to 12 but I read it to my 4 year old granddaughter and the tale of Charlie Bird kept her attention quite solidly. She loved the story of Charlie and especially adored the real color photographs. Charlie photographs quite well and having the two girls in the story be photos of posed dolls was a great addition to the overall enjoyment of this children's book. The short story really teaches children about pets, wildlife and, moreover, the differences between the two. It also drives home the fact that having a pet is a great joy and a great responsibility. Any boy or girl from ages 4 to 12 would enjoy reading this well crafted and well photographed book.

Happy Reading!

Linda Bird is the owner of Charlie, a small parrot. In this book she details his habits, idiosyncrasies, and interactions with his family. While the text is, for the most part, entertaining, the graphics are quite amateurish and they appear to be photographs which have been cut and pasted near the text. For some reason Linda's daughters are depicted as two dolls rather than the nine-year-old and seven-year-old girls that they are described to be. I also agree with the reviewer who says that it is confusing to have the true-life bird suddenly become part of a fantasy. Hopefully Ms. Bird's future books will have sharper graphics, better photographs, and a more consistent story.

Charlie Bird by Linda Bird is the real (mostly) tale of the author's pet parrot. Charlie is a little bird with a big personality. He loves to share his flightless flock's breakfast and snuggle under their shirts for a cuddle. The author really does have a good story to tell, but unfortunately the format used doesn't showcase it. Real photos of Charlie are used throughout the story, and while they often work, instead of using Linda's real daughters, pictures of dolls are used. The pictures are awkwardly cropped and using dolls makes them seem a bit otherworldly. One photo actually frightened my daughter: that of Charlie's eye peeking through the center of a flower. The last few chapters of the story are taken up with a fictional jaunt of Charlie's in switching bodies with one of his wild bird friends. The wild birds are obviously fake, and because the rest of the book is real, the story jars. I could easily see this book broken into several shorter books (with simpler vocabulary) and drawings or more realistic photos, minus the fiction detour. The author has a great story to tell; I just wish it was done better.

Linda Bird, having had a career in health care, wrote this book inspired by her pet parrot Charlie Bird. More at www.outskirtspress.com/charliebird

Charlie Bird is a lively illustrated book for young children that tells readers the adventures of Charlie Bird, a pet parrot. It shows the kids how a caged bird lives and what happens one day he is set free. Charlie Bird is an enjoyable story that can motivate kids to love and take care of their pets. There are colored illustrations throughout the story and the letter size is comfortable enough for the kids to read aloud. The author uses humor in her descriptions of Charlie's activities, thus making this story an entertaining read suitable for both pre- school and school age kids. Get this book from www.outskirtspress.com/charliebird
Or Ingram and Baker & Taylor


Liana Metal, author of Storytime

Charlie Bird is a picture book about a pet bird who wishes to know what it is like to be a wild bird. Even though Charlie Bird loves his featherless flock, he makes a deal with one of the wild birds he befriends through the window to switch places. The wild bird, Rusty, seeks out a sorceress dove, Fiona, to ask her if she will grant Charlie and Rusty's wish. The next day the two birds wake up in each other's places.

Charlie's featherless flock, Molly and Sara, notice that Charlie Bird isn't acting like himself. As the reader, you learn about Charlie's daily routine with the girls from making snow out of the toilet paper, chewing on remote controls for the T.V., to all the tasty foods he likes to eat. While the girls are trying to get who they think is Charlie Bird out to play, the real Charlie is learning that being a wild bird isn't all that great. He has a hard time flying because his wing feathers are clipped. He also learns that people don't bring you tasty food, but that you have to hunt for your food and hope you find something good enough to eat.

The story is informative about the different lives house birds lead compared to wild birds. The illustrations are all photos, yet they are colorful. If you have children who like birds, they will find this story fun and interesting.