Baby Bird’s Blankie (Margaret Wild, illus Gwyn Perkins, Working Title Press, $19.95 hb, ISBN 9781876288877, May) ****

This is a lovely picture book to share with the very young—perfect for bed-time and one that can be enjoyed over and over again. The storyline is simply told in a rhythmical style; baby bird would much rather play with his ‘blankie’ than go to sleep, getting the attention he seeks from his doting family each time he throws ‘blankie’ out of his nest. Everything is going well until a large black crow grabs the blankie mid-flight, causing Mum, Dad and Granny bird to give chase. Of course, blankie is quickly restored to its rightful owner, and baby bird decides perhaps it is a good idea to stop playing that particular game, and settles down to go to sleep. Margaret Wild’s text has been set out beautifully, and Gwyn Perkins’ illustrations are delightful—the expressions on baby bird’s face are very appealing, and the sudden splurge of black as the crow makes its unexpected appearance comes as a clever contrast to the previously pastel colours against a white or light background.

Hilary Adams works in a specialist children’s bookshop in Sydney and is a freelance reviewer and writer

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

Tags: margaret wild