What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
The Gleanie Bird
SOLVED: Children's/YA
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SOLVED. YA - Abandoned farm with guinea fowl living in old oak tree, homeless guy moves in and starts fixing it up and filling it with animals [s]
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Still haven't found this one. It's driving me nuts!
A few questions that may help bring up some search keywords:Krissa, do you remember any illustrations in the book or the cover?
Was it a thick book or thin book?
Do you know what time period the book was set in?
Does Enoch interact with the fowl, such as feeding it, talking to it, etc?
Can the animals talk to each other (like in Charlotte's Web)? What sorts of things does the fowl do to get the animals to get along?
Tab wrote: "A few questions that may help bring up some search keywords:Krissa, do you remember any illustrations in the book or the cover?
Was it a thick book or thin book?
Do you know what time period t..."
It was hardcover, I'd guess from the 1960s or so but not sure. It was YA-length, so not huge but it did have chapters. The animals can talk amongst themselves, but not to the people. The copy I had didn't have anything on the cover but the title. I think it was blue!
There were pretty simple little line drawings inside, but not many of them. It was mostly text.
Enoch feeds and cares for all the animals, but the fowl is just kind of half-wild, it sits in a tree and observes, mostly.
I'm not sure about the time period, to be honest. I think there were cars...
It was one of my favorite books as a kid, I was always re-reading it - annoying how I can remember so much but the title!
Your tip about the fowl being called something else was a good tip-off. The Gleanie Bird by Kathleen Thomas
http://openlibrary.org/works/OL160232...
If you have an OpenLibrary account, you can read the book online. I skimmed through it and the farmer's name in Enoch.
Oh my gosh! That's the one! Thank you thank you thank you!
Abandoned farm with a guinea fowl [I think - although I think they used some other name to describe the bird] living in an old oak tree. I think much of the story is told from the bird's perspective.
A homeless man, possibly named Enoch, comes and moves in, and slowly begins to get the farm working again. He has a dog.
Bit by bit he fixes things around the farm, and finds stray/abandoned animals to fill it - sheep, cows, horses, and pigs. At first the animals don’t get along, but the bird in the oak tree fixes that by making them all hate him more than they hate each other, and everyone is happy.
The bird's got a kind of sarcastic, unfriendly disposition but it likes to see the farm reviving.
I think the farm, or one of the nearby places was called “Mutton Top”.
And that's all I can remember. I hope someone can help me out!