Customer Reviews

The True Story of Stellina

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Woman walks into a library. She comes up to me at the reference desk with this request: Do you have any picture books on finches? Not goldfinches or anything like that. Straight-out finchy finches. Searching the whole of the New York Library system I came up with two (count `em) two possible contenders. Needless to say, I promised her that I would ask other librarians around the country for other finch related titles before the week was over. I did so and among the answers I received came an e-mail from a woman suggesting Matteo Pericoli's newest picture book for children. Entitled, "The True Story of Stellina", the book promised to be a finch-centric true tale about a woman and the baby finch she adopted. The best part? It takes place here in Manhattan! Quick as a wink I recommended it to the woman, though I had to point out that it was a very very new book and might take some time before it was added to my library system. She was pleased and I was clued in to one of the cutest l'il ole books I ever did see. A real departure from his previous work, "Stellina" marks author/illustrator Matteo Pericoli's first foray into the world of picture book fiction. Touching, and true, it's remarkable for both its simplicity and its subtle illustration style. Sweet as all get out.

It happened one day in Manhattan on the corner of 3rd Avenue and 46th Street. Pericoli's future wife, Holly, was just standing on the corner when she heard a "CHEEP". And there, standing just beside a street sign, was a very tiny bird. "Could you also have heard `CHEEP' on the corner of 4th and Third, in the middle of the day, while cars were rushing by? ROOOOOAAAAARRRR!". Well Holly did. Holly sat and waited for the mama bird to come, but no one did. So Holly took the little finch home and named her Stellina which means "little star" in Italian. Normally baby finches are mighty picky about who feeds them, but Stellina allowed Holly to drip the juice of fresh grapes from her pinky finger into the waiting avian mouth. With each new step Stellina takes, she looks at Holly as if to say, "And now? What's going to happen now?". Soon the finch was flying, singing to Holly's piano playing, and would perch on the end of Matteo's pencil as he drew his work. And eight years later Stellina died. She might have done so on the corner of that busy street had Holly never found her. Instead she lived with people who loved her and lived a small but extraordinary little life.

If you're wracking your brain right now wondering why the name, "Matteo Pericoli" sounds so familiar then perhaps you are familiar with some of his previous projects. A couple years ago Pericoli came out with a book entitled, "Manhattan Unfurled". Following the Manhattan line of buildings along the sea, this artist painstakingly drew every last building in pencil, labeling each structure as he went along. The result was a complex pull-out book that would have people staring at it for hours. In my particular case, I was at my in-laws for Thanksgiving one year and after dinner someone brought out this book. We started passing it along between one another trying to identify places we recognized. In "Stellina" you can see Pericoli working on this book when the baby finch perches gracefully on the tip of his pencil. For the illustrations of this book, Pericoli has drawn in what appears to be pencil, and then painted the pictures over with a watercolor wash that's all peaches and blues in bright but soothing hues. It sounds odd to say, but these illustrations aren't too terribly dissimilar from Shel Silverstein's drawings. Just better honed and less zany.

The whole bird-in-a-great-big-city idea is as old as the art of American picture books itself. The most memorable of these, by far, would have to be Robert McCloskey's, "Make Way For Ducklings". And covering the kestral end of the spectrum is Rober J. Blake's, "Fledgling", but till now the world has been woefully bereft of the finch's point of view. "Stellina" hopes to change all of that. Bound to be one of the better remembered pet-adoption tales from the big city.

One of the honors of being a school librarian is the opportunity to be there for some of the small but very important moments of your students lives.

Reading The True Story of Stellina reminded me of an early morning visit from a student who came in before school and asked "Do we have any books on birds?" Well, what do you want to find out about birds? Is this for a report? Is there any special type of bird you are looking for?

She was clutching a shoebox and slowly lifted the lid and began to explain how she had found-this-baby-bird-on-the-sidewalk-on-the-way-to-school-and-she-had-run-run-all-the-way-back-home-to-find-a-shoebox-and-now-she-had-it-in-the-box and-see-the-sticks-and-leaves-she-had-added? She needed to find out how to take care of the bird so she had come to her library to get help.

We ended up enlisting the help of our school nurse who is a professional 4-H mom, and has raised just about every kind of animal imaginable. I cannot remember now what happened to the bird but my young friend would have been enchanted by this gentle story.

Matteo Pericoli's wife hears a "cheep" and finds a baby bird on the noisy streets of Manhattan. She takes the little bird home and manages to feed it and care for it. Stellina lives and thrives and repays the couple with companionship and love for eight years. The drawings are light and delicate like the bird whose story they are telling. I am looking forward to sharing it with kids. They will be charmed.

I was in the American Museum of Natural History last month, or rather, in their gift shop (honestly, is there any better place to shop for kiddie stuff?) when I noticed Pericoli's impressive rendering of the city skyline, Manhattan Unfurled, on prominent display.

I knew that on my shelf sat a more humble volume of his, about a single bird and not an entire cityscape. Stellina was a finch chick rescued by his wife, Holly, when she heard its tiny peeps at her feet above the roar of traffic.

While a press release and the book itself make much of the love that sprung between rescuer and foundling, I was struck more by Pericoli's obvious awe of his wife. He dotes on the way she fed the bird by trickling juice down her pinky, or played piano to inspire it to sing, or schlepped it in a plastic box whereever she went until it was old enough to be left alone in her tiny apartment.

He also refers to her as "Holly, my wife" on every single reference, in case you miss it. An end note explains she was only his future wife when Stellina peeped into their lives, and further confuses matters by saying a security guard first rescued the bird. There is no guard in Pericoli's narrative.

There is, however, what appears to be a lovely, stylized rendering of Holly, with an elongated nose and slender frame, dabbled with just enough watercolor to suggest her clothes or Stellina's plumage. Pericoli's use of pigment is like his spare prose, giving us only what's essential:

"It was evening when Holly, my wife,
decided to take Stellina home with her.

"They sat together for a while,
looking at each other,
and both must have wondered:
'And now? What's going to happen now?'"

Stellina finally died after eight years as Holly's well-tended pet, probably a better lifespan than she could've expected in the wild (I'm guessing). This tribute to the bird -- but really to its keeper -- is much like a splotch of warm color in the big, gray city.

This is a beautifully told story that is very refreshing and sensitive, bringing tears to adult eyes and causing smiles and cooing in the young listeners. The ilustrations are delightful. Nothing but praise for this children's book.

This illustrations in this book are refreshing-- they are charming without being kitsch. They pique the imagination without surpressing it as some of the more photorealistic illustrations in childrens books tend to do.

Beware-- this book does deal with death, but it does so in a very gentle way. My children loved this book. I enjoyed it as well. The repetitive style also makes it suitable for younger children (older babies/toddlers) despite its length.

This is a wonderful story about a couple who find an abandoned baby bird in a busy intersection and take it home to raise it. It is very touching because of their love that grew for little baby Stellina. She became a member of their family. My grandchildren love this kind and tender story and want me to read it to them again and again. The artwork is also delightful. I recommend this book for children and adults alike. My grandchildren are 2 to 9 and they all love it.