World's Worst Parrot

by Alice Kuipers

Ava works hard at maintaining a certain image online and at school. As far as anyone else knows, life is great. But when she inherits an African gray parrot from her great-uncle Bernie (whom she barely remembers), Ava's carefully crafted world starts to crumble. The parrot, Mervin, is loud and messy and obnoxious. Ava's brother thinks it's hilarious to post videos of Ava trying to deal with the crazy bird. He even creates a profile for the two of them. Everyone wants to see more of Ava and Mervin. Suddenly, Ava is internet famous--in the worst possible way. Her friends think the parrot is gross and start acting weird. But then a new girl at school helps Ava see that this parrot might not be the worst gift in the world and that just being yourself is the best way to be.

Genres: Young Adult, Friendship, Family

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 20, 2020

About the author

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I was born in London, England, and I moved to Canada in 2003 when I fell in love with a Canadian. We live in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, which took a while for me to learn how to spell. I have four children, a girl and three boys.

My first novel, Life on the Refrigerator Door, was published in 29 countries, won several awards and was named as a New York Times book for the Teen Age. My second is called Lost For Words in the US, and The Worst Thing She Ever Did everywhere else. It won the Arthur Ellis Award, was shortlisted for the White Pine and Willow Awards, and was published in eight territories. 40 Things I Want To Tell You is my YA book published in 2012. The Death of Us, a CLA honour book, in 2014. My newest YA novel is Me (and) Me.

Violet and Victor Write the Best-Ever Bookworm Book is my first picture book. It was published with Little, Brown Books For Young Readers in December 2014, and the sequel Violet and Victor Write The Most Fabulous Fairy Tale is available now.

Find me at www.alicekuipers.com

Reviews

[Pam]

I wish the story were a bit longer. Ava inherits her Great-Uncle's parrot with no prior warning. It arrives at a difficult time as she and her brother and mother are still finding their way after a divorce. She learns some valuable lessons on friendship and compassion while taking care of the bird. Ava wants to be a social media sensation and gets that wish though only through sharing her parrot too. Readers will relate to her emotions and stresses.

[Sarah Sammis]

World's Worst Parrot by Alice Kuipers opens with Ava learning that she has inherited her great uncle's African gray parrot. There's a note saying the uncle remembered her loving the parrot when she was younger but Ava has no memory of him or the bird.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2020/comm...

[Samu]

Birb.

[Laura]

Edit:
I’ve just learned that this book is part of a collection of books written for middle school students who are reading below grade level. That makes A LOT of sense with how simple the writing was. I still think the plot could have been beefed up and the characters could have been developed more fully, but now I appreciate this book more for what it is: a high interest, low level, super accessible middle grades novel. And in that regard I think it met its goal, so I’m going to change my 2.5 rounded down to 2 stars to a 2.5 rounded up to 3.

Original thoughts:
A solidly 2.5 ⭐️ book. The most average storyline and writing I’ve encountered in a while. It had a sweet premise. Execution just wasn’t quite there.

[claire]

This book was... Okay. The writing was okay, the characters were okay, the plot was okay. It was really short which made everything happen quickly which is not a bad thing, but I think the story could have been made a little longer

[Randy]

I bought this with the thought that I could use this with my ELL students, and I think it is a good choice. There are plenty of themes within it that are relatable for middle school students, and the language is accessible.

[Sheri Radford]

This fun story contains a believable plot, interesting characters, and one very fascinating parrot. It's sure to get reluctant readers reading, but be warned: they might request a pet parrot after!

[Giannad]

The book was good but very short.

[LB]

Short read, but sometimes that's just what you need. I wonder what it would have been like if it had been longer.