I picked this book to review because the story was hitting a little bit too close to home. I am all too familiar with the story of the “bird” who chooses to cut corners and eat and sleep instead of helping the rest of the flock work. I was interested in seeing how this story turned out for Blue and hope I could figure out how to make my true life story turn out the same way (provided it ended with Blue helping the flock out again!)
This book is a kids book – and is written in all rhyme! I was tempted to make my review rhyme too but then I remembered that whenever I had a poetry assignment in high school or college I had one of my poet friends help me out and I was never very good at it, so I will spare you all from that 🙂
Blue is one of the flock in the beginning of the book, singing beautifully working on nests, doing everything you’d expect a bird to do. Then one day Blue slept all day and realized that hey, that was pretty nice of a lifestyle too. Then he stopped helping out with the nest building and headed straight to lunch. Slowly he was not singing as well as he used to and slowly he was getting fatter! He barely fit in his nest and when the time came to fly south – he couldn’t!
While he was stuck up north in the snow in the winter he realized the error of his ways. He had to work hard to find food all winter long and find a way to stay warm. By the time the flock came back, he was back in shape and regretted being lazy. The next year he had no problem flying south!
The moral of the story is that even though sleeping and eating all day CAN be fun – it is not good for you and you need to balance your day with work AND fun, not all one way or the other!
It’s a really cute book and I am tempted to slip a copy to the couple of people I know who are the ones sleeping and eating and not working… The illustrations are also great – the birds are all so cute. They remind me of the cartoon birds I draw – well, at least what I want them to look like in my head, not exactly what they end up looking like on paper!
I received a free ecopy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
Big Blue is a cautionary tale for all of us, but especially children who may not realize that their actions can have unexpected consequences. Big Blue is a happy bird, and member of a large family that spends their winters in the warm south. Big Blue gets lazy though and instead of working, he lies about eating and sleeping. Soon, the flock leaves – but Blue is too fat and heavy to go, so he spends the winter cold, but working hard just to survive on his own. He soon learns that hard work has its rewards because he is now strong, fit and the leader of the flock.