What do you think?
Rate this book
Little Tawny
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 11, 2014
In some ways this book is very effective. Things I like about it include:
- The way the illos are all unvaryingly of the bird (with small photo to match on the opposite page) which in many cases shouldn't work, but in this case does, as it's cleverly written to give the bird's personal experience of what is going on and we see the pose, facial expression and body language change accordingly.
- The information in the back of the book about how to correctly deal with finding an injured or apparently injured/vulnerable animal
However, for me the first half of the book was so much better than the second half. What began as an engaging personal journey with an injured baby bird, became didactic and heavily spiritual in the second half. The real bird was no longer there. Where the earlier part of the book had matter-of-fact real feelings for the bird (Little Tawny felt hungry/alert/lonely/clever/frightened) the latter part had Little Tawny feeling 'proud' which felt unconvincing.
This would not be a problem if the book were about imaginary animals, or picture book animals like Harry the Dirty Dog; animals who are standing in for people partially or completely. But in this case the entire context of the book is to discuss the welfare of real wildlife, so for me, the bird should remain real throughout.
Having said this, (I'm so picky) I think the book has a lot of value. And I have every sympathy for wildlife carers and those wishing to promote the well-being of our fantastic native species and wild areas.
- The way the illos are all unvaryingly of the bird (with small photo to match on the opposite page) which in many cases shouldn't work, but in this case does, as it's cleverly written to give the bird's personal experience of what is going on and we see the pose, facial expression and body language change accordingly.
- The information in the back of the book about how to correctly deal with finding an injured or apparently injured/vulnerable animal
However, for me the first half of the book was so much better than the second half. What began as an engaging personal journey with an injured baby bird, became didactic and heavily spiritual in the second half. The real bird was no longer there. Where the earlier part of the book had matter-of-fact real feelings for the bird (Little Tawny felt hungry/alert/lonely/clever/frightened) the latter part had Little Tawny feeling 'proud' which felt unconvincing.
This would not be a problem if the book were about imaginary animals, or picture book animals like Harry the Dirty Dog; animals who are standing in for people partially or completely. But in this case the entire context of the book is to discuss the welfare of real wildlife, so for me, the bird should remain real throughout.
Having said this, (I'm so picky) I think the book has a lot of value. And I have every sympathy for wildlife carers and those wishing to promote the well-being of our fantastic native species and wild areas.
Displaying 1 of 1 review