A tender portrait and one well worth perusing—and perhaps giving pause—to all who are considering a parrot of their own.
Tiko is a 30-year-old, Red-lored Amazon parrot who lives with Burger (Biology/Rutgers Univ.) and her husband in their New Jersey home. The author describes their life together in an easy voice, one that is gently lyrical for the most part, although it shifts uncomfortably into scientific jargon at times (e.g., “male nest-showing,” “pair-bond maintenance,” “courtship feeding”). But more than a scientific work, this is a user’s manual on what to expect (and how she and her husband learned to cope) when living with a parrot. They need contact more than any dog, they have wicked mood shifts, are curious to a fault, and highly protective. Burger spends a fair amount of time discussing Tiko’s amorous advances toward her during the breeding season—which lasts up to half the year. She also turns her trained biologist’s eye on the bird, evaluating his adaptability, his memory, his use of tools (he would use a quill to scratch and itch on his back), and his propensity for whistling duets with her husband.
A tender portrait and one well worth perusing—and perhaps giving pause—to all who are considering a parrot of their own.Pub Date: May 22, 2001
ISBN: 0-679-46330-5
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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