Poetry Friday - A review of Today at the Blue-bird Cafe

For this Poetry Friday I have a review of a book that lifts the spirits, tickles the funny bone, and that charms the eye.

Today at the Blue-Bird Café: A branchful of birds

Deborah Ruddell 

Illustrated by Joan Rankin

Poetry

For ages 5 to 8

Simon and Schuster, 2007, 0-689-87153-8

   Today the Bluebird Café is open for all-you-can-eat business. If you are a feathery person, prepare yourself for delicious treats such as “berries and snails and a bluebottle fly.” What a delightful window into the world of birds we see here. What else can we see as we look up into the sky, among the flowers, on the pond, and in the trees?

   There is the cardinal sitting on a wooden post with his brilliant red feathers that are “valentineSantaClaustotallyred.” How brilliant he looks so bright and bold.

   Then there is the hummingbird who “flaps his teeny wings / like a maniac.” How much the child wishes that this busy little creature would come back to the garden.

   Another child feels that the cockatoo is like a wedding cake, “with frosting swoops and coconut flakes.” How grand it looks with its soft feathers, its black beak, and its crest, that “sugar-coated curlicue.”

   This delightful collection of poems about birds will charm, amuse, and delight bird lovers of all ages. Deborah’s unique word pictures are perfectly complimented by Joan Rankin’s luminous and wonderfully evocative watercolor illustrations.